Cancellation and Failure to Attend Policy

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Cancellations at short notice and non-attendance without a valid reason denies patients of essential dental care and treatment. To help to reduce possible price increases and decrease waiting times for appointments, we have a cancellation and failure to attend policy.  

We respectfully ask for 1 working days’ notice to cancel an appointment. An appointment cancelled with less than 1 working days’ notice will be considered as a failed to attend appointment. 

We reserve the right to refuse further treatment to patients who fail to attend two consecutive appointments or two late cancellations.  

We understand that cancellations are sometimes unavoidable due to illness or emergencies and will of course take account of all individual circumstances.  

In the event of a cancellation, we will endeavour to fill the time allocated to you with another patient. We reserve the right to charge for any time subsequently lost as a result of a late cancellation or failure to attend. Such appointments will be charged at £1 per minute based on appointment length with a minimum charge of £20. 

We do not charge NHS patients for a late cancellation or missed appointment. We reserve the right to refuse booking further appointments following failure to attend two consecutive appointments or two late cancellations. 

Appeals for missed or cancelled appointment decisions can be made by writing to Dr Lianne Steadman by email: merrystead@gmail.com or in writing to 147 Hampton lane, Blackfield, Southampton, SO45 1WE. 

Appointment Reminders 

At Merrystead Dental we send appointment reminders 7 days before and a day before an appointment. Please inform the practice of any changes to your contact details as soon as possible.  

Deposits 

Some treatments require a deposit on booking. These include New patient examinations, advanced dental treatments and lengthy dental treatment. The deposit is taken off the final appointment fee and is refundable if the treatment is cancelled as per our cancellation times noted above.  We may at our discretion hold an appointment time for you without a deposit we will normally agree a timescale or alternative arrangement to pay the deposit and reserve the right to cancel or reallocate your appointment to a different patient if the deposit is not paid in the agreed timescale.