Attendance Policy

At The Staffordshire Clinic, we aim to provide all our patients with the best possible service. This policy helps us deliver dental services appropriately.

Service Utilisation

If you have not attended the Practice for more than 2 years, your account will automatically be deactivated. This means that you will have to attend again as a new patient. A new patient examination is a longer appointment, as our team need more time to assess any dental changes, and to take x-rays where appropriate. Regular attenders have this done routinely at their examination appointments, so any dental changes can be treated in their earlier stages.

Advanced Payments

We ask all new & lapsed patients attending the Practice to make a £30 advanced payment at the time of booking their appointment. This can be done in person, or when booking over the phone. This advanced payment will be retained as per the Failure to Attend & Short Notice Cancellation sections of this policy.

Failure To Attend

Missed appointments are a lost opportunity to provide valuable patient facing time to another patient in need. This policy is in place to ensure a fair, consistent and transparent process is followed when a patient misses an appointment or cancels at short notice without giving a minimum of 24 hours’ notice.

Should any patient miss an appointment, they will be asked to pay a fee for the lost surgery time that is proportional to the length of the appointment. This is calculated at £1 per minute of the appointment length.
If you are a Practice Plan member, and you do not give us 24 hours’ notice or fail to attend, please note this will count as your included plan appointments used. To re-book, you will be asked to pay a private fee to be seen OR wait until your next due membership appointment; this may be 6 months from the time you fail or late cancel.

Short Notice Cancellations

We require more than 24 hours’ notice for all cancellations or appointment changes unless there are exceptional circumstances and proof can be provided upon request.

Should any patient cancel an appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice, they will be asked to pay a fee for the lost surgery time that is proportional to the length of the appointment. This is calculated at £1 per minute of the appointment length.

If you are a Practice Plan member, and you do not give us 24 hours’ notice or fail to attend, please note this will count as your included plan appointments used. To re-book, you will be asked to pay a private fee to be seen OR wait until your next due membership appointment; this may be 6 months from the time you fail or late cancel.

Please note, a short notice cancellation (less than 24 hours’ notice) is treated in the same way as a missed appointment, as we are unable to offer this time to someone else. This often results in wasted clinic time which is highly sought after. Appointments must be cancelled in person, over the phone or via email to info@thestaffordshireclinic.co.uk

Emergency Appointments

We offer emergency appointments each day for our patients who regularly attend the Practice. If you have not attended the Practice for an examination appointment in the 18 months prior, we reserve the right to refuse an emergency appointment. However, you may be able to make an appointment for an examination. The dentist may offer to assess the problem at that time, but is not under any obligation to offer emergency treatment in place of routine dental care.

Emergency appointments cannot be booked in advance, and are given on a “first come” basis, on the day of the emergency.

Due to staff availability, your emergency appointment might not be with your regular dentist.

Definition of emergency

• Fractured jaws – affects speech, teeth may not meet properly, swelling inside mouth, limited mobility, pain etc. Most commonly happens after an accident, blow to chin etc.
• Uncontrolled Bleeding – bleeding that cannot be controlled by firm continuous pressure from a pack for 10 minutes
• Severe Pain – cannot be eased or improved with the use of pain medications, or other localised pain management aids.
• Swelling – this may be inside the mouth, or on the outside of the face. Commonly, the area can also be warm and tender. If swelling affects the patients’ ability to breathe or swallow, you will automatically be redirected to A&E or another relevant emergency medical service.

Children’s Dentistry

Due to the demands on NHS dentistry, as well as our contractual obligations with the NHS, we can only offer appointments to people under 18 years of age. Once you reach 18 years of age, you will automatically become a private patient on a “pay as you go” basis. It is the responsibility of the patient to arrange joining a dental plan with us.
We can only accept NHS patients who have a parent/guardian who regularly attends the Practice. This is because we have a limited contract availability, and want to offer this goodwill to the families who have supported us.

Plan Utilisation

The membership is designed to keep patients healthy through regular attendance and as such it is your responsibility to ensure you have your routine appointments booked. Missed appointments for the year cannot be rolled over, nor exchanged into credit or refunds. If you choose not to attend for your appointment entitlement, you cannot claim back the fees paid; as you have still had access to all the Practice Plan services, such as worldwide assistance and emergency care.

Approved By: Natalie Cosby
Date Published: 11/10/2023