Policy for Non – Attendance on a private basis

The definition of ‘failure to attend’ (FTA): Patients that have missed or have not cancelled and/or rescheduled at least two working days in advance of their pre-booked appointment. Exceptional circumstances are at the discretion of the practice management team.

All hygienist and private dental appointments that are cancelled at short notice, or not attended will be charged at the full appointment cost.

Membership plan patients who cancel at short notice or fail to attend examination and/or hygienist appointments will forfeit the visits on their plan. The appointments can be rescheduled at the appropriate private fee or the member may wait until their next appointment is due either 3 or 6 months later depending on the plan joined.

All failures to attend will be documented in the patient record.

If a patient continually fails to attend appointments and misses 2 or more appointments, given less than two working days’ notice, the practice may feel this constitutes an irrevocable breakdown in relations. The patient may therefore be refused further treatment at the practice.

If a new patient fails to attend their 1st appointment, we reserve the right to refuse further appointments at the practice, and the deposit for the appointment will be kept.

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.