Lapsed NHS Patient Policy

NHS PATIENTS

Due to the high number of people wanting to receive NHS dental treatment and the very long waiting lists, our dental practice has no choice but to remove patients who have not attended for two years or more from the NHS list. This means you will need to join our waiting list to be seen in the Practice again on the NHS. Unfortunately, we are not able to send notification of lapsed registrations and we encourage our patients to book their appointments in advance or contact us if unsure.

If you have an appointment, please make sure you don’t forget it

Please take every step necessary to make sure that you arrive in good time. We need to be strict about both missed appointments and late arrivals and ask that, if you must cancel, make sure you do at least 24 hours in advance.

We value all our patients, and we don’t want to have to tell anyone that we are unable to provide them with routine NHS appointments.

How to keep your place as an Active NHS patient:

  • Always attend any appointment booked or cancel the appointment more than 24 hours in advance.
  • Make sure you book your next dental examination before you leave the practice.
  • Check and update your contact details. Be sure they are correct, especially your email address

    and mobile phone. If we can keep in touch with you, then we can help you keep on track, so you don’t miss your appointment.

PRIVATE PATIENTS

We will charge for un-used time where a patient fails to attend or cancels without reasonable notice (less than 24 hours before the appointment).

If a deposit has been taken in advance this deposit will be lost.

Late cancellation charges of £50.00 will apply if an appointment is cancelled within 48 hours and we are unable to fill the time.

Patients who are unable to make their appointment because of illness should, where possible, contact the practice as soon as they are aware that they cannot attend. If patients are unsure whether they can make it to an appointment, please contact us early to discuss the matter rather than leaving it to the last minute. Failing to notify us before the appointment time will result in a failure to attend charge being made unless there are exceptional circumstances.

We understand that scenarios do occur, and discretion will be used if there is a good reason for the appointment being missed.

LAPSED PATIENT POLICY

RECALLS AND REMINDERS

Text and email reminders are available for all appointments. If we have your contact information on file, we can provide a reminder by text or email 48 hours in advance of your appointment. It is your responsibility to check your text messages, missed calls, answer phone messages and emails to ensure that we are informed of any changes to your contact information.

Please note, reminders are provided out of courtesy only and it is a patient’s responsibility to turn up on time for an appointment. Failure of our reminder system for any reason is not a sufficient reason for failing to attend or turning up too late for treatment.

LAPSED PATIENT APPEALS

If you feel that you have been unjustly notified as being a lapsed patient, you can write to the Practice Manager explaining your unique circumstances using manager@malvernhillsdentalcare.co.uk or via the post.

Please note that we will not discuss lapsed patient queries on the phone.