Every year we lose a lot of valuable surgery time due to patients failing to attend their appointments, or cancelling at short notice. This makes it more difficult for us to accommodate our patients in need of urgent treatment, for existing patients to book appointments and for new patients to register here.

 

Private Patients

 

From 1st April 2019 we will charge for un-used time where a patient fails to attend or cancels without reasonable notice (less than 24 hours before the appointment).

 

If a deposit has been taken in advance this deposit will be lost.

 

Late cancellation charges of £50.00 will apply if an appointment is cancelled within 48 hours and we are unable to fill the time.

 

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 patients are unsure whether they 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.

 

We understand that scenarios do occur and discretion will be used if there is a good reason for the appointment being missed.

 

Denplan Patients

 

The missed appointment fees and late cancellation fee 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.”

 

NHS Patients

 

Under NHS regulations, we are unable to charge NHS patients who fail to attend for their appointments or who cancel at short notice (less than 24 hours is insufficient notice).

We have experienced a large number of NHS patients, often whole families, failing to attend their appointments.

If NHS patient’s fail to attend two appointments within a two years. This will result to them being contacted and made aware they will be removed from the practice patient list and will have to find a new dental practice to attend.

 

We ask all patients to please notify the practice if you cannot attend on 01432 272925 or by emailing reception@brightonvilladental.co.uk.

 

Reminders

 

Text and email reminders are available for all appointments. If we have your contact information on file, we can provide a reminder by text or email 48 hours in advance of your appointment. It is your responsibility to check your text messages, missed calls, answer phone messages and emails to ensure that we are informed of any changes to your contact information.

 

Please note, reminders are provided out of courtesy only and it is a patient’s responsibility to turn up on time for an appointment. Failure of our reminder system for any reason is not a sufficient reason for failing to attend or turning up too late for treatment.