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Failure to Attend (FTA) & Short Notice Cancellations

Please note that due to NHS regulations, our cancellation policy differs between Private & NHS patients.

Private Patients

We aim to provide all our patients with the best possible service and to achieve this we need your cooperation. If you are not able to attend your appointment, please give us at least 48 hours’ notice so that we can allocate the time to someone else.

Non-attendance and cancellations at short notice without a valid reason deprives other patients of essential medical services.

If less than 48hrs notice for a cancellation is given or where a patient fails to attend an appointment we may have to apply a charge of £50 per 30 minutes.

New patients who fail to attend will not be offered another appointment.

The practice may no longer see patients who cancel at short notice or FTA three times.

We understand that things sometimes come up and that you may need to make changes to your appointment. We will always be as flexible as possible with our patients.

We will always try to be sensitive to personal circumstances in the event of FTA’s and late cancellations.

NHS Patients

We aim to provide all our patients with the best possible service and to achieve this we need your cooperation. If you are not able to attend your appointment, please give us at least 48 hours’ notice so that we can allocate the time to someone else.

Patients that have missed or have not cancelled/ rescheduled at least 48 hours in advance of their pre-booked appointment (exceptional circumstances are at the discretion of the practice) Under the National Health (Dental Charges) Regulations 2005 (Section 3) the practice will not be able to charge patients for failing to attend appointments.

All failures to attend will be documented in the patient file/record. A 1st failure to attend will result in a written or verbal communication being given. The patient will be given the opportunity to rebook the appointment. They will also be advised by reception staff that in accordance with General Dental Service Regulations 2005, Schedule 3 Part 1 (5), they risk refusal of completion of the NHS course of treatment if they miss their next appointment.

If a patient continually fails to attend appointments and misses 2 or more appointments, given less than 48 hours notice, “the practice may feel this constitutes and irrevocable breakdown in relations”. Under the NHS (General Dental Services) Regulations 2005, Schedule 3 Part 1 (5) and the patient may therefore be refused further NHS treatment at the practice.

If a new patient fails to attend their 1st appointment we reserve the right to refuse further appointments on the NHS at our practice.

Please note that, although we normally send email and/or text message reminders prior to appointments, the successful delivery of these relies on our text provider, your mobile network provider and your phone and cannot therefore be guaranteed. Therefore, you should not rely on our emails or text messages as the sole reminder of your appointment. We will not be responsible for any appointments missed as a result of non- delivery of these text message reminders, regardless of the reasons for its failure.


Cancellation Policy updates

We reserve the right to modify this cancellation policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website.
 

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