Attendance and Cancellation Policy
Attendance and Cancellation Policy
Attendance
Please try to ensure you attend your appointments on time. If you are running late, please call us on 01845 523620 to let us know your expected arrival time.
If you arrive more than 5 minutes late, we will make every effort to still see you, but cannot guarantee to do so.
Cancellations and Missed Appointments
If you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, please give us as much notice as possible.
If you miss an appointment or cancel at short notice (see below), we may:
- Charge you a fee
- Ask you to pay for future appointments at the time of booking
- Remove you from our list (for repeated missed/cancelled appointments)
If you would like complimentary SMS or email reminders before your appointments, please register your mobile phone number and email address with us.
As a minimum, we ask that you give us the following amount of notice:
| Dental Health Check | 1 full working day* |
| Urgent appointment e.g. lost crown, broken tooth | 1 full working day |
| New patient first appointment | 2 full working days |
| Hygienist appointment | 2 full working days |
| Treatment appointment | 2 full working days |
| Dental implant appointment | 5 full working days |
| Complex treatment appointment** | 5 full working days |
*A working day is Monday to Friday. (e.g. a dental health check appointment at 2pm on Monday should be cancelled before 2pm the previous Friday)
**This includes any appointment where a deposit is taken at the time of booking
Deposits:
If you have paid a deposit for your appointment (e.g. dental implant appointment), and you miss the appointment or cancel with less than the required notice period, we will retain your deposit. When you re-book, we will ask you to pay the deposit again.
You can cancel your appointment here
Appointments for irregular attenders
It’s always recommended that you visit us for regular dental health checks. Patients on our Membership Plans, and those who attend regularly for dental health checks are prioritised for appointments.
If you haven’t had a dental health check with us in the last 3 years, you would be classified as a new patient. This means that:
- We would only be able to offer you an appointment, even for an emergency, if we’re currently accepting new patients (check here)
- If we can offer you an appointment, you would pay our New Patient appointment fees
Payment Policy
We will always provide you with a full itemised treatment plan before you start any treatment. This means you know how much will be payable at each appointment.
We ask you to pay for your treatment or appointment no later than when it is carried out. You can pay by cash or card at your appointment. You can also pay by BACS if you prefer – just ask for our bank details. If you choose to pay by BACS, we may ask you to make payment before your appointment.
We will ask you to pay for your dental hygiene appointments at the time of booking, so we can manage the hygienists’ appointment books more effectively. If you prefer not to do this, you may choose to join a Membership Plan, where all your regular hygienist appointments are included.
For some treatments, we may ask you to pay a deposit to secure your appointment.
Complaints Policy
We hope you never have reason to complain. However, if you have a complaint, we always aim to resolve the matter swiftly and amicably. Therefore, please speak to us in the first instance and we will do whatever we can to resolve the problem.
If you wish to register a formal complaint, we keep complaints forms at reception which you can complete. You can also register you complaint by contacting us in writing by letter or email. To register a formal complaint, please make this clear in your correspondence
You can view our complaints procedure at the practice reception or download a copy here.
Download complaints procedure.
If you make a complaint to us and we are unable to resolve it, it can be passed on to the Health Service Ombudsman for resolution.
If you need assistance to make a complaint, please contact the Cloverleaf Advocacy service.
If you would like to make a complaint, but would prefer not to approach us directly, you can contact the following bodies:
NHS complaints:
NHS England
PO Box 16738
Redditch
B97 9PT
england.contactus@nhs.net
0300 311 22 33
Click here for the NHS England website
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman:
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
0345 015 4033
Click here for the Health Service Ombudsman website
Private complaints:
Dental Complaints Service
General Dental Council
37 Wimpole Street
London
W1G 8DQ
08456 120540.
Click here for the Dental Complaints Service website
Feedback and Comments Policy
We always welcome feedback and comments. You can do this in the practice or by using our contact form.
You can also read testimonials and see video stories from our patients.
Privacy Policies
You can download our privacy policies here, which contain information about the types of data we process, and how we process them:
Data Protection and Information Security Policy
How we will contact you
We will contact you using the contact information you have given us which may include by phone, SMS, post or email.
We will contact you with service messages which will allow us to continue to provide safe and effective dental care. This includes reminders of upcoming appointments and notification when routine appointments are due.
To opt out of these service messages, please contact us. Please be aware that, in any case, it is your responsibility to attend appointments and repeated failure to attend may incur fees, or you may be removed from our list.
If you have given us permission to do so, we may contact you periodically with information about events, promotions or services. You can opt in or out of marketing communications below.
Dental Tourism Policy
We understand that our patients may choose to have dental treatment carried out somewhere other than at Market Place Dentistry. This may be because you choose a specialist provider for complex treatments, or have a dental emergency while away from home. In this situation, we are happy to continue providing your ongoing care as normal.
However, we advise caution when choosing a dental provider for elective or cosmetic dental treatment which is not regulated in the UK. This includes:
- Clinics abroad offering reduced-price dental treatment
- Remote providers of teeth straightening services
- Non-dental providers of teeth whitening services
With these providers, you often miss out on the benefits of a well-regulated dental service, including
- A full and thorough assessment before starting treatment
- Proper planning of your treatment, taking consideration of your particular needs and circumstances
- A transparent consent process, so you are fully aware of potential consequences and complications of your treatment
- Using products, materials and techniques which are researched and tested
- Ongoing, accessible aftercare.
For our existing patients:
If you are considering any of the above non-regulated services, please have a chat with us about it first. If you are looking for improvements to your smile, we can help, and it may cost less than you think.
If you have had non-regulated dental services and suffer a dental emergency, we will always make sure you are comfortable, but may advise you to return to your treatment provider for any remedial treatment which is needed.
For non-regular patients:
If you have received non-regulated dental care, and need remedial treatment, we would advise you to return to your treatment provider for this.
Links
General Dental Council http://www.gdc-uk.org/
British Dental Health Foundation http://www.dentalhealth.org/
Association of Dental Implantology http://www.adi.org.uk/
Care Quality Commission http://www.cqc.org.uk/
Dental Complaints Service https://dcs.gdc-uk.org/
We adhere to the General Dental Council’s guidance “Standards for the dental team”
A copy of this guidance can be found at http://standards.gdc-uk.org/
