Failed appointments Policy

---

Zero Tolerance Policy

Staff shouldn’t have to suffer violence or abuse just for doing their job, so we operate a zero tolerance policy on this type of behaviour.

If any patient is aggressive, abusive or violent towards any member of staff or any other persons on the practice premises, the practice retains the right to have the patient removed from our list.

Missed appointment policy

A significant amount of valuable clinical time is wasted when an appointment is not kept, time which could otherwise have been allocated for the treatment of other patients in need.

If it is not possible to keep an appointment please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer the appointment time to someone else.

A failed appointment consists of an appointment where the patient did not attend, a cancellation with less than 24 hours notice and late arrivals to appointments where there is no longer adequate time to complete the procedure.

Two failed NHS appointments will result in a patient being removed from our NHS list.

Failed private appointments will incur a charge, which needs to be settled before further appointments can be made.

If private appointments are repeatedly failed or cancelled at short notice we may ask for further appointments to be paid for in advance, in these cases the fee would be charged if the appointment is missed.

We endeavour to run to time for all our appointments. Occasionally patients attend with a dental emergency and it may be necessary to treat them on the day to relieve pain and infection or occasionally a patient requires more of our time and care than originally anticipated. This may result in us running late, we appreciate your patience and understanding in these circumstances.

Please note: 

Since the 2006 NHS Dental Contract there has been no registration of dental patients on the NHS. Patients only receive NHS dentistry at the point of attending for a check up and for the course of treatment they require at that point, if there is availability.

Whether it be 6 months or 2 years following that visit no further NHS treatment is guaranteed for that patient.

Please find below an extract from the NHS dental website:

‘Once you find a dental surgery, you may have to fill in a registration form at your first visit, which is just to add you to their patient database. But that does not mean you have guaranteed access to an NHS dental appointment in the future.’