Failure to attend and late cancellation fees FAILURE TO ATTEND / LATE CANCELLATION POLICY
Every year we lose valuable surgery time due
to patients failing to attend appointments or, cancelling at short notice –
less than 24 hours’ notice. If we have
notice of a cancelled appointment, we can use the space to see more patients
who are in pain or suffering a dental emergency. It also allows us to see patients who are awaiting
urgent treatment. If we are not told
that you are not attending your appointment we can’t do this.
We are sure you will appreciate that as a
small business our running costs are extremely high and we can no longer afford
to cover the cost of unfilled surgery time due to a patient failing to attend
their appointment or late cancellations.
From now on failed appointment or
cancellations with less than 24 hours’ notice will attract a fee equal to 50%
of the agreed treatment cost. This will
also apply to Hygiene visits and examinations.
Patients who are unable to make their
appointment because of illness should, where possible, contact the practice as
soon as they are aware that they cannot attend. If you are unsure whether you
can make it to an appointment, please contact us early to discuss the matter
rather than leaving it to the last minute. Failing to notify us before the
appointment time will result in a failure to attend charge being made unless
there are exceptional circumstances.
DENPLAN PATIENTS
The missed appointment fees which apply to our
Private Patients, as stated above, will also apply to all Denplan Patients.
Please refer to your Denplan Care or Denplan
Essentials Handbook under ‘The Care/Essentials Contract between you and your
dentist’ (Point 10):
“You are responsible for keeping appointments
made with your dentist and you must pay any missed appointment fee should you
fail to do so. You must ensure that you also attend your dentist for regular
examinations, receive the treatment your dentist advises and you must promptly
inform you dentist of any injury, problem or other material matter affecting
your oral health. If you fail to ensure any of this you will be liable to pay
any fee reasonably charged for treatment necessary to restore your oral health,
which could otherwise have been avoided.”