Terms and Conditions for missed/cancellation of NHS appointments 

It is the aim of Moody Terrace Dental Practice to provide quality dental care to all our patients on schedule and to use clinical time effectively. The following policy aims to achieve this with regards to missed NHS appointments and cancellation of NHS appointments.

Cancellation of an appointment 

Even though we understand that your plans do change and things can happen, we do ask that you provide us with at least 24 hours’ notice for any appointment changes. We create individual time with each patient to allow us to deliver the personal, quality care that every patient deserves and missed appointments prevent us from scheduling another patient that may require our services.

We provide an automated text and email reminder service prior to your appointment. It is important you provide us with a current email and mobile number to enable this.

Missed appointments 

If you know you will not be able to attend an appointment then please give as much notice as possible to the practice so that we can cancel your appointment and offer your slot to another patient. You will not be affected by a cancellation but we can terminate your treatment if you miss your appointment without letting the practice know.

Whilst dental practices cannot charge NHS patients for not turning up, NHS England has the right to ask you to find another dental practice if you continue to miss appointments.

The policy of Moody Terrace Dental Practice is as follows:

1. Cancellation within 24 hours of an appointment will be deemed as failure to attend.
2. Subsequent appointments will be reduced in length. This may mean several visits for a course of treatment until we can establish your reliability to attend.
3. Cancellations will only be accepted via email to appointments@moodyterrace.com or telephoning 01260 272657
4. Failure to attend on three occasions in total will lead to your removal from our NHS list. You will then have to find an alternative dental surgery to continue your oral health care.
5. Whilst we provide a reminder service, it is your responsibility to arrange your appointments. Therefore, failure to attend for two years will also lead to your removal from our NHS list.
   
   It is our aim to telephone or write to patients after a missed appointment to understand the reason for non-attendance and inform them about our decision about their NHS dental care.