Missed and Cancelled Appointments Policy

At Greenlaw Dental Care, we value your time and ours. When an appointment is booked, that time is reserved specifically for you and cannot always be offered to another patient at short notice.

We ask that you give us at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or rearrange an appointment.

Missed appointments

If you fail to attend an appointment without giving adequate notice, a £45 missed-appointment charge may be applied.

Children and young people

Children and young people depend on a parent or carer to bring them to their dental appointments. Where a child or young person does not attend an appointment without adequate notice, this will be recorded as a Was Not Brought (WNB) appointment.

A £45 missed-appointment charge may be applied to the parent or responsible adult who arranged the appointment, where our practice terms and conditions have been accepted.

Repeated missed appointments may result in the practice reviewing whether we can continue to offer routine appointments in the usual way. Where appropriate, we may also follow relevant safeguarding and NHS procedures for children and young people who are repeatedly not brought to appointments.

Repeated missed appointments

Where appointments are repeatedly missed or cancelled at short notice, we may ask patients to discuss the situation with a member of the practice team before further appointments are arranged.

We will always consider individual circumstances and will use our discretion where there are exceptional reasons for a missed appointment.

If you are unable to attend an appointment, please contact the practice as soon as possible. We would much rather rearrange your appointment than charge you for a missed appointment.

Thank you for helping us to keep appointments available for all our patients.