Cancellations and missed appointments

In January 2023, we had 9 hours 45 minutes of appointments where the patients failed to attend. We also had 26 hours of cancelled appointments.

If your appointment time becomes inconvenient for you, we are always happy to change it and we ask for at least 24 hours’ notice. This enables us to offer the appointment to someone else who may need urgent treatment.

Although we appreciate that emergencies happen and life does not always go as planned, missed appointments and late cancellations represent a significant cost to the Practice. These wasted appointments have a great impact on the service that we are able to provide to our patients, resulting in longer waiting times and missed opportunities for other patients who could have been seen in the time set aside for you.

We make efforts to remind patients of appointments via email and text message two days before the appointment and although we do our best to fill cancelled appointments, if they are short notice, we are often unable to do so.

In the past, we have rarely charged for late cancellations or missed appointments, and during the Covid 19 pandemic, we felt it would be unfair to charge patients who cancelled or missed appointments during this time. However, due to the increasing number of late cancellations and missed appointments over the last few months and the impact this has on our patients and Practice, please be aware that appointments that are missed, cancelled, or postponed within 24 hours of the appointment time will now incur a time-based charge.

We thank you for your cooperation and understanding.