PATIENT POLICY – ATTENDING APPOINTMENTS, CANCELLATIONS/FAILURE TO ATTEND, AND DEPOSITS

Attending Appointments

At North Cardiff Dental & Implants, we promise to treat you with respect, giving you the time and attention you deserve, alongside providing exceptional standards of care and treatment.

When you book an appointment, we reserve our highly qualified clinicians time, top of the range equipment, dedicated team, and all other resources for you for the time you have booked.

We appreciate that life is busy, and not always straightforward. Should something happen that means you cannot attend your appointment, please let us know as soon as you can. We will always accommodate where possible. We do ask for a minimum of 24 hours notice to allow us to offer your slot to another patient. This increases to 48 hours for appointments that are 2-3 hours in length, and 72 hours for appointments longer than 3 hours. You can contact us via phone (029 22 679 999) during opening hours, leave a voicemail when we are closed, or send us an email ([email protected]).

Please note that weekends and public holidays are not included in this notice period. For example, to cancel an appointment booked for a Monday at 9am, you will need to notify us no later than the preceding Friday at 9am (Thursday at 9am for an appointment that is 2-3 hours, or Wednesday at 9am for appointments longer than 3 hours). Please take this into account should you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment.

Unfortunately, failure to attend an appointment or to notify us at least 24 hours (or 48/72 hours as appropriate) in advance means we are unable to offer this appointment to another patient. In this instance, a failure to attend or late cancellation fee will be applied, meaning you will lose all or some of your prepaid deposit (dependent on type and length of appointment) – please see our deposit policy.

This fee will increase with each subsequent failure to attend/late cancellation.

After two failures to attend or late cancellations, the deposit required to book any further appointments will be £380 per hour. This will need to be paid at time of booking and will be refundable as long as the appointment is attended.

It is our strict policy to request full prepayment and/or deposits and make an automatic charge should insufficient or no notice of cancellation be given.

Late Attendance

We book specific time slots for each appointment, to allow enough time for your clinician to carry out your treatment to the highest possible standard. If you are going to be late for your appointment, we again ask that you contact us as soon as possible. We will need to confirm with your clinician if they are still able to carry out your appointment if you are late. If they are unable to do so in the remaining time, a late notice cancellation fee will be applied. If they are able to see you, you may need to rebook to finish any remaining treatment.

Deposits

We make appointments with the expectation that you will attend at the agreed date/time and undergo your planned treatment. If you change your mind, or something prevents you from being able to attend, please contact us at least 24 (or 48/72 hours as appropriate) in advance to reschedule or cancel.

When we book your appointment, we will ask for a deposit or full payment from you as confirmation of your commitment to attend. Deposits are normally fully refundable providing the appropriate 24, 48 or 72 hours notice to cancel is given.

Our deposits/prepayments policies are set out as follows:

New patient consultations /recalls /emergency/ hygiene/ imaging appointments:

Full payment must be made in advance to secure the appointment. If you miss the appointment, you will lose the full treatment fee.

Filling/extraction appointments:

£100 per hour booked must be paid as a non-refundable deposit to secure the appointment. For appointments longer than 3 hours, a deposit of £380 per hour must be paid. If you miss the appointment and wish to rebook, you must pay another non-refundable deposit. The full balance must be paid before you enter the surgery for your treatment.

Crown/bridge appointments:

50% of the treatment fee is paid as a deposit to secure the initial tooth preparation appointment. If you miss the appointment, you will lose £100 per hour missed and if you wish to rebook the appointment, you will need to pay this missed appointment fee. The remainder of the balance must be paid before you enter the surgery at the fit stage.

Dentures:

50% of the treatment fee must be paid at the impression stage. If you miss the initial appointment, you will lose £100 per hour missed. If you wish to rebook the appointment, you will need to pay this missed appointment fee. A £50 non-refundable deposit must be paid to book each subsequent appointment. The remainder of the balance must be paid before you enter the surgery at the fit stage.

Implants:

£100 per hour booked must be paid as a non-refundable deposit to secure the implant placement appointment. For appointments longer than 3 hours, a deposit of £380 per hour must be paid. If you miss the appointment, you will lose £100 per hour missed, and if you wish to rebook the appointment, you will need to pay this missed appointment fee. For appointments longer than 3 hours, you will lose £380 per hour missed. When you attend for the implant placement, you must pay the remaining balance before going into the surgery.

In certain other cases we may ask for some of, or the full amount of an appointment as a deposit. This includes but is not exclusive to: Oral Surgery, Root Canal Treatment, Surgical Consultations, Second Opinions, and if any clinician is being brought in specifically to treat you.

Providing the appropriate amount of notice is given, any refundable deposit made can be refunded to you either in person or over the phone. It can also be left on your account as credit to be used towards any future treatment.

Changing your mind

We understand that sometimes patients may change their mind about treatment.

Should you change your mind before any treatment has begun/ before any third parties e.g laboratories have been instructed, and within the cancellation time period for any time booked, no fees will be payable and any refundable deposits can be returned to you.

Where a change of mind arises from the time of consent has been given, during treatment, or after treatment has commenced, then all time allocated/relating to your treatment will be charged based on clinician/surgery time. Where third parties are involved in your treatment, for example laboratories, materials etc, all fees will remain payable in full and/or where fees have already been paid, will not be refundable.

Where treatment finance has been obtained and is sought to be refunded in full or in part, we will refund such monies less finance fees payable based on the amount to be refunded.

Appointment Reminders

An automatic appointment confirmation email is sent to each patient when their appointment is booked. Please ensure you provide us with the correct email address to make sure you receive these. The team also endeavour to call each patient the day before their booked appointment to confirm your attendance and to complete pre-appointment checks in line with any current health regulations. We may also leave you voicemails, or send you a text or an email, should we be unable to contact you. All reminders sent, voicemails left, and calls made are logged on our system.

Despite this, you should not rely on our messages or calls solely to remind you of your appointment with us as these are a courtesy. We will not be responsible for any appointment missed as a result of non-delivery of email/text/voicemail reminders, regardless of the reasons for its failure. It is your responsibility to ensure we have your correct contact details to enable us to contact you.