Safeguarding and Wellbeing
Missed appointments can hinder our ability to monitor patients’ health effectively and identify any potential issues early on to implement preventive measures and ensure their continued well-being. By attending these appointments, you're not only taking proactive steps to maintain patients’ health but also minimising the risk of future health complications.
Additionally, missed appointments can raise concerns regarding the welfare and safeguarding of a patient and a multi-agency approach to supporting children, young people, those under the care of someone else, and their families is in place across the area so that we can all work together for their wellbeing.
Any information shared is proportionate and appropriate to the level of need of each patient. For the avoidance of doubt, information can and will be shared with multi-agency teams to get the right support and meet patients’ needs at the right time.
Children’s Social Care operates within the context of Working Together to Safeguard Children and is GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 compliant.
In cases where missed appointments persist and there are concerns about a patient’s welfare, information may be shared within the multi-agency teams to ensure they receive the support they need. This is in line with our commitment to safeguarding adults and children to ensure well-being.
We understand that life can be hectic, and scheduling conflicts can arise. If you're experiencing difficulties attending appointments or need to reschedule, please contact us, and rearrange as missed appointments may raise unnecessary concerns and result in information being shared with relevant organisations.
As a result of missed and late cancelled appointments, a significant amount of valuable surgery time can go unused and often this time cannot be reallocated to other patients at short notice, which ultimately impacts the running of the practice and incurs a financial cost.
It is practice policy that a deposit or appointment fee is typically collected in advance to secure bookings, which is non-refundable if the appointment is not attended, or cancelled at short notice.
Membership monthly fees contribute toward the cost of allocated clinical time and care. When appointments are missed or cancelled at short notice, the associated plan fees may still be used to offset the costs of the reserved surgery time, which remains unused and unavailable to others.
Considering the current challenges and in fairness to all our patients and clinical team, routine appointments will not be eligible for rescheduling under the current plan membership for the next six months. This measure is necessary to ensure that surgery time is used efficiently and equitably for all patients.
During this period, if you require urgent care or treatment, we will continue to accommodate such appointments, provided your plan membership remains active.
We are unable to charge patients for missed NHS appointments or late cancellations. However, repeated failures to attend or short-notice cancellations impact our ability to provide care to other patients.
If two or more NHS appointments are missed or cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice - whether consecutive or not - we reserve the right to discontinue your current course of NHS treatment and may no longer be able to offer NHS care in the future. In such cases, patients may be advised to seek care at another dental practice.
We understand that unexpected events can occasionally occur, and we appreciate your cooperation in helping us maintain fair and efficient access to care for all patients. Our priority remains to provide the highest quality of care, and we sincerely thank you for your understanding and support.
Please note: Repeated missed appointments or late cancellations may result in your place at the practice being reviewed and potentially revoked.
