Due to the resumption of Dental Services in England and our continued commitment to support the national response over the pandemic. This policy has been created based on multiple updated sources from within the dental and medical professions and the government.
It is the aim of MK Dental Spa and Waddesdon Dental Practice to provide quality dental care to patients and to use clinical time effectively.
We invest in the latest technology, including modern telephone equipment and communication methods, including an online booking system, to allow our patients to make appointments easily. Our appointment system supports timely access to care and treatment, allows patients to access services at a time that suits them and minimises the length of time people have to wait.
Appointments can be made or rescheduled by calling our reception team:
01908 569949 : MK Dental Spa reception
01296 655577 : Waddesdon Dental reception
When we book an appointment for you, we commit that time and our resources to your treatment. If you do not attend your scheduled appointment and either do not tell us in advance or give insufficient notice, we are unable to allocate the time to another patient.
We do of course appreciate that you have busy lives which may mean that you may not always be able to attend a previously scheduled appointment. If so, please do contact us as soon as possible and we will endeavour to re-arrange your appointment at a more convenient time for you.
However, failure to attend an appointment or provide notice of a cancellation (please see below – “Cancellation”) means that we are unable to offer the appointment to other patients. We then will charge a cancellation fee for your late cancellation.
Cancelled appointments are charged accordingly to our set fees or dependent on the length of time allocated to you. However, cancellation of a hygiene appointment and/or new patient examinations and/or emergency will be charged at the full appointment fee.
It is our strict policy to request full payment and/or deposits and make an automatic charge if insufficient notice of cancellation or amendment is given.
We make appointments with the expectation that you will attend at the agreed date & time to undergo your treatment. If you change your mind or work/other commitments prevent you from attending, we ask you to provide us with the required notice (see below) so that we can reallocate your appointment slot to another patient.
When booking your appointment, we will seek full payment and/or where appropriate a deposit from you, payment of which meets dental industry COVID guidelines and is also your confirmation of your commitment to attend your appointment. Our deposits are normally fully refundable providing sufficient notice of cancellation is given (see below) and will be set at the following levels:
• New Patient Examinations: 100% appointment fee payable
• Emergency Appointments: 100% appointment fee payable
• All other appointments: 50% – 100% fee payable.
• Specialist appointments: 100% appointment fee payable.
• All Patient Hygiene (including direct access): 100% appointment fee payable.
In the following cases, we will also request the full amount of an appointment as a deposit. This will include although not exclusive to Sedation, Oral Surgery, Root Canal, Implants, Second Opinions and all Specialist appointments.
We may, at our discretion, accept a booking on a provisional basis without payment of a deposit. In such situations, we will normally agree alternative arrangements for payment of the deposit with you. If you do not pay the deposit within the timescale you have agreed, we reserve the right to cancel your appointment and reallocate the time to another patient.
We will only cancel or delay a patient’s appointment in unavoidable circumstances such as equipment failure. In such cases, we will take the following steps:
• The patient will be contacted as soon as the practice is aware of the need to cancel or delay the appointment. We will explain the reason for the cancellation or delay.
• At the time of contact, the patient will be offered a new appointment at the earliest time available.
• If the patient is unable to commit to a new appointment during that contact, we will ask them to get in touch at a later time, when we will offer them a priority appointment.
If you are unable to attend your appointment for any reason, to avoid incurring fees it is important that you do inform us as soon as possible but no later than:
• 3 working days before the scheduled start time of your appointment.
• 7 working days before the scheduled start time of your appointment for any Specialist appointments.
Please note that weekends and bank holidays will not be included in these time frames so for example, notice to cancel an appointment requiring 3 working days (excluding Sedation/Oral Surgery/Root Canal/Implants) scheduled for a Monday, must be given no later than the preceding Thursday. Public holidays are also not included in these time frames which you must take account of should you need to cancel and avoid a late payment fee. Providing you give notice of cancellation or postponement/amendment no later than this deadline, your deposit can be refunded to you on request. If you do not request a refund of your deposit, it will be held on your account and may be used against the cost of future treatment.
Where Specialist and non-standard treatment is being undertaken by either a specialist practitioner/practitioner with special interests or practitioner who is allocated to your treatment and/or being brought in especially to treat you the full treatment cost for the time allocated will become payable upon cancellation where less than 7 clear working days’ notice has not been provided.
If you fail to attend one of your routine appointments or cancel outside of the 3 working days’ notice, you will lose this routine appointment rather than pay a cancellation fee. Therefore, if this means that you have used your maximum appointments, any further appointments can be added on a pay as you go basis.
(Includes late cancellation, request to re-schedule & late arrivals)
If you do not attend your appointment, cancel/re-schedule later than the deadlines shown above or arrive late, we reserve the right to make a charge as follows:
• New Patient Examinations: 100% appointment fee payable.
• Emergency Appointments: 100% appointment fee payable.
• New Patient Hygiene Visit (Direct Access) : 100% appointment fee payable.
• Specialist Appointments: 100% appointment fee payable.
• All other appointments will be fully charged for reflective of the cost of the appointment time allocated.
This charge will be debited to your account with us. If you have not paid a deposit, settlement of this charge will be required before treatment can continue.
If you are an established patient and you arrive late for your appointment you will likely be asked to reschedule. However, this will be dependent upon what appointment time is left and whether we can accommodate you based on strict COVID safety policies. If we can and your appointment does go ahead, it is important to note that it is likely you will need to be re-booked to finish off what treatment remains. This will also meet with our stringent COVID policies for the benefit of each and every patient and their safety.
You will be charged for the full treatment time/cost allocated to you. In addition to such time/costs and where such allocated time has been exceeded, all further clinical time we have had to wait and/or incur due to your late arrival will also be charged for. In this event, please be aware your account will automatically be charged and will reflect our payment terms and conditions. This also includes any failure to comply with pre appointment instructions.
It is therefore important to arrive on time and in full compliance to all pre-appointment requirements.
We strive to see every patient as close to their appointment time as possible. However, this can only be achieved by arriving on time for your appointment.
One or two late patients cause the entire daily schedule to fall behind. This is an inconvenience to other patients who arrive on time. Please help us to help you by arriving on time.
Likewise, if you are a new patient, we are required to ensure your new patient registration including our stringent COVID policies are fully adhered to. When booking your first patient examination with us over the phone or email, we will ask for the full payment of this appointment. This includes your full examination, dental x-rays and our enhanced infection control fee.
We will also send you a medical history form, map and receipt of payment via email or post, this is down to your preference. If you book appointments using our online service, your forms can be filled out when you arrive for your appointment.
It is, therefore, important to arrive on time.
We strive to see every patient as close to their appointment time as possible. However, this can only be achieved by arriving on time for your appointment.
One or two late patients cause the entire daily schedule to fall behind. This is an inconvenience to other patients who arrive on time. Please help us to help you by arriving on time.
When we book treatment for you, we commit that time and our resources to you. However, we do understand people may change their mind. Where this arises before any treatment is consented to and/or no third parties i.e. laboratories, materials etc have been instructed/ordered to assist in undertaking work relating to your treatment and/or no time has been undertaken and/or set aside, where otherwise we/they would have been able to undertake such work and/or see other patients that would be chargeable, no fees will be payable by you.
Where a change of mind arises and/or from the time of consent has been given and/or during treatment and/or after treatment has commenced, then all-time allocated/relating to your treatment will be charged based on clinician/surgery time. Where third parties are involved in your treatment for example laboratories, materials etc, all fees will remain payable in full and/or where fees have already been paid, will not be refundable.
Where treatment placement has been undertaken and/or where subsequent patient changes are requested including where confirmation of patient treatment satisfaction to the appearance/look has been sought by the surgeon and approved (verbally or in writing) by the patient and/or in the Surgeons professional judgment such outcome is the most realistic and reflective, any subsequent requests for treatment changes including appearance/look, will be payable reflective of current clinic fees by the patient. Where unrealistic expectations/outcomes are sought by a patient, we will explain reasons why such treatment and/or outcome sought is not appropriate and/or achievable in the professional judgment of our Surgeons.
Where treatment finance has been obtained and is sought to be refunded by the patient in full or in part, we will refund such monies less finance fees payable (based on the monies to be refunded) plus an administrative charge of £25.00.
Please note that, although we send text/emails (see below for scheduled reminders sent) before appointments are due, the successful delivery of these relies on our text provider, your mobile/email network provider and your phone and therefore cannot be guaranteed. All reminders sent are logged internally on our server.
Email and text reminders are sent approximately 2 weeks before your appointment and then again 2 days before. You will also receive a confirmation call 1 day before when we will also carry out our COVID-19 pre-screening process.
You should not rely on our text/email messages as the sole reminder of your appointment as we will not be responsible for any appointments missed as a result of non-delivery of the text/email message reminder, regardless of the reasons for its failure.