Failed Appointments Policy

We aim to provide all our patients with the best possible service and to achieve this we need your cooperation.

If you are unable to keep your appointment, please make every effort to cancel it well in advance so that it may be offered to someone else. Non-attendance and cancellations at short notice without a valid reason deprive other patients of our services.

 

Please see our Cancellation policy.

Policy for failure to attend

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If a patient has difficulty in attending pre-booked appointments, in line with our Cancellation policy, we require 48 business hours’ notice. We will try to offer you the nearest available appointment for that day assuming availability exists or another day.

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When we schedule an appointment for a patient, we are booking the surgery time off for that patient’s treatment.

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The first time a patient fails to attend a booked appointment we will send an email reminding them that in the future they must cancel appointments in line Cancellation Policy, if they are unable to attend.

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Any further failures to give the appropriate notice of cancellation will result in a Failed Appointment Fee being charged.

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This fee is proportionate to the appointment length and type you have failed and is to cover the cost of the surgery time wasted. It is understandable that sometimes cancellations cannot be helped due to emergencies and we will take all valid circumstances into account.

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Once a failure to attend has been recorded, for patients wishing to book further appointments we reserve the right to ask for a full payment up front, which will be forfeited in the event of failure to attend as outlined above.

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If more than 2 appointments are missed, future appointments may not be offered.

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Patients may not be seen for further appointments until any outstanding fees have been paid.

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The final decision is at the discretion of the Practice owner.

Approved By: Sandy Limerick, Jackie Armstrong, Michelle Goode
Date Published: 21/02/2022