Our mission is to provide outstanding care for our patients, in an efficient manner. Pennyhill Dental Care employs a strict Failure to Attend policy in order to ensure patients have access to care with minimal delay. By not attending an appointment, it wastes vital time which could be offered to patients awaiting treatment or who may be in pain. 

We will strive to accommodate the appointment needs of our patients and make every effort to provide emergency dental care where needed at short notice.

To keep our prices to a reasonable level it is necessary for the fixed running costs of the practice to be met. This requires the dental surgeons and hygienist to be operating in their surgeries to maximum efficiency. For this reason we have in place a non-attendance policy.

Policy for Non- Attendance NHS Patients

Failed Appointment fees must be settled before any other appointment is offered. Please note that we cannot accept notice of cancellation by e-mail or text message as these are not screened daily.

Definition of ‘failure to attend’ (FTA): Patients that have missed or have not cancelled/ rescheduled 48 hours in advance of their pre-booked appointment (exceptional circumstances are at the discretion of the practice). Under the National Health (Dental Charges) Regulations 2005 (Section 3) the practice will not be able to charge patients for failing to attend appointments. 

All failures to attend will be documented in the patient file/record.

A 1st failure to attend- will result in a written or verbal communication being given. The patient will be given the opportunity to rebook the appointment. They will also be advised by reception staff that in accordance with PCT policy and General Dental Service Regulations 2005, Schedule 3 Part 1 (5), they risk refusal of completion of the NHS course of treatment if they miss their next appointment. 

A 2nd failure to attend- If a patient continually fails to attend appointments and misses 2 or more appointments, given less than 48 hours notice, “the practice may feel this constitutes and irrevocable breakdown in relations”. Under the NHS (General Dental Services) Regulations 2005, Schedule 3 Part 1 (5) and the patient may therefore be refused further NHS treatment at the practice. 

Pennyhill Dental Care reserves the right to refuse further treatment to patients who fail to attend two or more appointments. This would potentially mean their removal from the practice registration list.

Policy for Non- Attendance Private and Plan Patients 

If a patient has difficulty in attending pre-booked appointments, we suggest that patients contact Pennyhill Dental Care giving 48 business hours notice. We will try to offer you the nearest available appointment for that day assuming availability exists or another day.

When we schedule an appointment for a patient, we are reserving the surgery time off for that patient’s treatment. As you can appreciate, the surgery time is valuable for people in need and expensive to run. From the 1st of July 2022, failure to attend an appointment may result in being charged at £2 for each minute of the missed appointment (20 min apt = £40 charge). 

To book further appointments (e.g. treatment is necessary after initial examination), our practice reserves the right to ask for a reservation deposit for private and plan appointments with our dentist/therapist (this fee is proportionate to the length of the appointment booked, calculated at £2 for each minute reserved). This fee will be deductibile from the total cost of the treatment. In case your treatment involves dental laboratory work, we may ask for a minimum of 50% deposit for private and plan appointments with our dentist, which will be forfeited in the event of failure to attend as outlined above. Failure to give the appropriate notice of cancellation will result in a Failed Appointment Fee, meaning that the deposit for your appointment reservation will become non-refundable and it will be used to cover the cost of the surgery time wasted. You will also need to pay any other additional laboratory fees incurred (when the reservation deposit doesn’t cover all costs), the final decision being at the discretion of the Practice owner. 

If more than 2 appointments are missed, future appointments for private patients may not be offered.

It is understandable that sometimes cancellations cannot be helped due to emergencies and we will take all valid circumstances into account.

Our goal in communicating our cancellation and failed to attend policy is to avoid any extra charges being passed on to the patient.

As clinical time has been reserved exclusively for you, for all our registered Private Patients who attend a Hygienist appointment will need to pay a reservation deposit which is half of the hygienist fee. If you need to change the appointment, we require at least 2 working days notice (for more complex cases there maybe longer notice required please – see full terms and conditions of your treatment plan). A deposit will not be refunded without the required notice. For a non Practice Plan registered patient (private), if a Hygienist appointment is cancelled by the patient at short notice (less than 48h notice) or missed, then this payment will be lost, and a new fee will need to be paid before a new appointment can be booked. 

For a Practice Plan member patient (Pure or Pearl), if a Hygienist appointment or a dental check-up are missed, no charge will apply; where appropriate, a second chance for re-booking will be offered (to meet that year’s Plan benefits), but any subsequent Hygienist/dental check-ups appointments missed will incur a charge of the entire appointment fee, paid in advance.

Patients who are not registered as regular dental patients with a dentist will be required to pay the full fee of a dental check-up or emergency dental appointment prior to seeing the dentist and the full hygienist appointment fee prior to seeing the hygienist. We regret that treatment will only be given to patients with up to date accounts. If a new patient fails to attend their 1st appointment we reserve the right to refuse further appointments at our practice and the full fee paid in advance will be non-refundable. 

Patients with any outstanding fees that have not been paid may not be seen for a further appointment until the balance is paid in full.

If, for any reason, you decide that you no longer wish to continue a planned treatment at Pennyhill Dental Care, please be aware that you will be charged for any treatment completed by the clinician or laboratory technician. 

Treatment plans are estimates and we will endeavour to inform you should the charges change once the treatment plan has started. Additional procedures will be carried out if essential and in the best interest of the patient.

Estimates are valid for three months from the date of the treatment plan. 

Short notice cancellation/ late arrival

We understand that some patients travel long distances to get to the clinic, and in some cases being late for appointments can be unavoidable. Patients arriving more than 10 minutes late for a Dentist, Therapist or Hygienist appointment may be requested to reschedule their appointment as it would be difficult to fit their appointment in without the dentist/hygienist/therapist running late for other patients. 

Cancelling at short notice makes it very difficult to offer your appointment to other patients in need, preventing them from utilising that time and costs the practice money. It is the dentist’s prerogative to remove from his or her list anyone who has a poor attendance or short notice cancellation history.

Due to the uncertainty of offering personalised healthcare treatment, occasionally our appointments can over-run. The team at Pennyhill Dental Care recognise the value of your time and work hard to ensure your appointment is punctual. However in circumstances beyond our control, Pennyhill Dental Care may be required to cancel or reschedule appointments.

Cancelling on behalf of someone else 

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of clinical confidentiality. If you are cancelling on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so, unless they are incapable (because of physical and mental illness) or you are the parent/family member or carer for the patient.

Text and email appointment reminders are provided out of courtesy not necessity. It is your responsibility to turn up on time to your appointment.

Please note that, although we normally send email and/or text message reminders prior to appointments, the successful delivery of these relies on our text provider, your mobile network provider and your phone and cannot therefore be guaranteed. Therefore, you should not rely on our emails or text messages as the sole reminder of your appointment. We will not be responsible for any appointments missed as a result of non- delivery of these text message reminders, regardless of the reasons for its failure.

For any patient wishing to dispute the policy due to a situation out of your control we request something is put in writing to: pmpennyhilldental@hotmail.com, 230 London Road, Bagshot, Surrey GU19 5EZ

Personal Details:

It is very important that you give a full medical history and details of any medication you take. Should these change in any way, it is very important for you to tell your Dentist. It is the patient’s responsibility to inform the clinic of any changes in either personal details and/or their medical history.

Guarantee:

At Pennyhill Dental Care we offer a like for like 12 month guarantee for fillings, and crown and bridgework, provided that the following conditions are met:

1. The patient has fully paid for the treatment and does not owe the practice any money for the treatment received.
2. The restorations have not been damaged as a result of an accident, trauma or excessive grinding.
3. The patient has followed all post treatment maintenance recommendations made by our dentists.
4. The patient has attended and routine examination every 6 months.

Some treatments may have a guarantee of less than 1 year, and in this case you will be informed by your Dentist.

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

Pennyhill Dental Care has a duty to provide a safe and secure environment for staff  and patients. Unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated at Pennyhill Dental Care. Should any of the examples below happen, decisive action will be taken. Violent or threatening behaviour will be reported to the Police.

Examples of unacceptable behaviour are:

• Verbal abuse which includes shouting, using foul language both face to face or over the phone
• Physical violence or threats
• Racial abuse or sexual harassment
• Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to our staff
• Causing damage to the practice
• Theft

Pennyhill Dental Care reserves the right to request clients who repeatedly cancel appointments at short notice, fail to attend, arrive late or are rude/abusive to find another service provider.