Failure to Attend / Late Cancellation Policy

Failure to Attend / Late Cancellation Policy

It is the aim of this practice to provide quality dental care to our patients on schedule and to use clinical time effectively. To achieve this aim, we have an appointment cancellation policy.

Cancellation of an appointment

Patients are requested to give at least 24 hours notice to cancel a dental appointment. Cancellations should be made by telephone by calling the practice telephone number. 

If you fail to attend more than two NHS dental appointments or cancel with less than 24 hours notice, we do not guarantee being able to complete a patient’s NHS treatment or offer them NHS treatment / appointments in the future. 

If a private dental appointment is missed or cancelled with less than 24 hours notice, a fee will be incurred and this is £10 for every £10 minutes of the appointment.

Appointments with any of our Specialists or Dentists With Specialist Interest performing treatments on a referral basis, require 5 working days notice if you wish to cancel or rearrange. For appointments of less than 30 minutes, the same fee as above will be incurred if the correct notification period has not been met. If the appointment is 30 minutes or more, the fee will be calculated as £40 for every 10 minutes of appointment. 

It is our aim to telephone or write to patients after a missed appointment to understand the reason for non-attendance and to try and reschedule the appointment. We aim to phone patients on the same day of the missed appointment or send an email advising the patient to phone to rebook.