Cancellation Policy

This practice aims to provide quality dental care to our patients and to use clinical time effectively. To achieve this aim, we have an appointment management and cancellation policy.

Management of appointments
We invest in the latest technology, to allow our patients to make or reschedule appointments easily. Our appointment system supports timely access to care and treatment, allows patients to access services at a time that suits them and minimises the length of time people have to wait.

Appointments can be made or rescheduled by
calling our dedicated appointments line on 01280 848945.

Reminders
E-mail & Text reminders are sent to patients 1 day before any appointment and patients are requested to inform the practice of any changes to their contact details.

Cancellation or delay of an appointment by the practice.
We will only cancel or delay a patient’s appointment in unavoidable circumstances. In such cases, we will take the following steps:

• The patient will be contacted as soon as the practice is aware of the need to cancel or delay the appointment. We will explain the reason for the cancellation or delay.
• At the time of contact, the patient will be offered a new appointment at the earliest time available.
  
• If the patient is unable to commit to a new appointment during that contact, we will ask them to get in touch at a later time, when we will offer them a priority appointment.

Cancellation of an appointment or missed appointment by a patient
Patients are requested to give at least 24 hours' notice to cancel a routine dental appointment. For appointments an hour or longer in duration we ask for 48 hours' notice. Cancellations should be made by telephone on: 01280 848945.

Late cancellations and missed appointments may represent a cost to the practice when other patients could have been seen in the time set aside for the patient.

There may be a fee for dental appointments that are missed or cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice or 48 hours' notice for longer appointments without suitable reason The fee is based on the length of the appointment and is at the dentist's discretion this is generally 50% of the appointment fee. The patient may be asked to pay a Security of Attendance fee for future appointments.

We understand that cancellations are sometimes unavoidable due to illness or emergencies and we will take account of all valid circumstances.

Any appeals about missed or cancelled appointment decisions by a patient should be made in writing to the Practice Manager – Jane Bower.