If your appointment time becomes inconvenient for you, we are always happy to change it if you provide us with at least 48 hours’ notice. This allows us to schedule another patient in need of our care.

Every year we lose valuable surgery time because of 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 be seen. It also costs the surgery over £300.00 per hour.

Recent research shows that statistically, a dentist wastes on average 3 weeks a year because of patients failing to attend appointments. This means inefficiency, frustration and considerable waste, but more importantly, can prevent patients who may be waiting for emergency treatment from accessing care. Adequate notice of cancellation benefits not only our specialist clinicians but also other patients.

We fully accept that on occasion, life throws up incidents and episodes that prevent patients from being able to make their appointment; these situations are sometimes unavoidable. 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 you are unsure whether you can make it to an appointment, please contact us early to discuss the matter rather than leaving it to the last minute.

As with all medical facilities, we aim to see our patients on time but, due to the nature of health care, this is not always possible. However, if a patient turns up late for their appointment so that treatment cannot be carried out, this will be regarded as failing to attend.

We aim to treat all our patients fairly and impartially at all times. This policy aims to address those appointments which are missed with no notice given and no attempt made to advise that the appointment will be missed. In such circumstances, Blackhills Clinic reserves the right to levy a charge for the wasted appointment time, as the clinic costs remain.

Failure to provide us with 48 hours’ notice or failure to present for a scheduled appointment will result in a cancellation fee. This fee will equate to £100 per half an hour of clinical time lost (£50 for hygienist appointments).

Our goal in communicating our Failed to Attend and Late Cancellation Policy is to avoid any extra charges being passed on to the patient. It is understandable that sometimes cancellations cannot be helped due to illness or emergency, and we will take all reasonable circumstances into account.

Text and email reminders are available for all appointments through our automated system. All text messages sent are logged when successfully delivered. It is the patient’s responsibility to check their text and email messages and ensure that we are informed of any changes to mobile phone number or email address details. We will assume that a patient has received the reminder if it has been logged as successfully sent.

Please note, text messages and emails are sent out of courtesy, not necessity. Failure of the text messaging system for any reason is not sufficient reason for failing to attend or turning up too late for treatment.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Cancellations should be made by telephone or by email:

Telephone: 01764 664 446

Email: info@blackhillsclinic.com

Any appeals about missed or cancelled appointments should be made in writing to Roxanne Hausrath, Practice Manager, either by post or email: manager@blackhillsclinic.com