Missed and cancelled appointments policy

In order to manage our appointment system effectively and efficiently, it is important that patients attend for their appointments.

Due to the large number of people who make appointments but then go on to fail to attend them or fail to give adequate advance notice when cancelling them, it has become necessary to form this missed appointments policy.

Missed and short notice cancellations waste the surgery’s very limited time and can prevent other patients who are trying to make an appointment from being able to access care.

If an existing patient has missed or late cancelled appointments in the last 18 months, the practice reserves the right to offer no further NHS appointments.

An appointment is considered to have been broken if any of the following occur:

· the patient fails to show up for the appointment,

· the patient appears more than 10 minutes late for a scheduled appointment or has missed a large portion of the booked time for the appointment to go ahead,

· the patient calls to cancel an appointment with less than 48 hours advance notice which results in surgery time is wasted.

Patients who wish to cancel dental appointments must do so with a minimum of 48 hours in advance of their scheduled appointment. If less notice is given without a valid reason, the appointment will be considered to have been broken.

We will not be responsible for any missed appointments as a result of a failure to receive a text or email reminder. Reminders are only a courtesy and should not be relied upon. We ask all patients to retain their appointment card and to make a note for their next booking.

If a new patient misses their first appointment with us or they cancel without the required 48 hours’ notice, the practice reserves the right to decline any further NHS appointments.