At Giffnock Village Dental Care, we understand that sometimes plans change, and you may need to reschedule or cancel your appointment. To ensure we can continue providing high-quality care to all our patients, we kindly ask that you follow our cancellation and attendance guidelines.

Missed appointments and short-notice cancellations can have a significant impact on the practice, preventing other patients from receiving treatment and increasing costs. This policy outlines our approach to cancellations, late arrivals, and missed appointments.

1. Missed Appointments (Failure to Attend – FTA)

When an appointment is missed without prior notice, it results in lost clinical time that could have been offered to another patient. Therefore, we apply the following charges:

• Missed appointments incur a charge of £1 per minute of the planned appointment (e.g., a 20-minute appointment = £20 fee).
• Hygienist appointments are private treatments, and a missed 20-minute hygiene appointment will incur a £40 fee.
• Payments for treatments are taken in advance.

Repeated missed appointments may result in removal from the practice’s patient list. We make every effort to send reminders, but attending appointments remains the patient’s responsibility.

2. Short-Notice Cancellations (Less than 48 Hours’ Notice)

If you need to cancel your appointment, we kindly ask for at least 48 hours’ notice. This allows us to offer your appointment to another patient in need of care.

• Cancellations made with less than 48 hours’ notice may be subject to a charge.
• Repeated short-notice cancellations (three or more) will result in a fine.

We understand that emergencies happen—if you have an unavoidable reason for cancelling at short notice, please contact us as soon as possible, and we will do our best to help.

3. Late Arrivals

We strive to keep appointments running on time to avoid delays for all patients. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late (or half the appointment length, whichever is shorter), we may not be able to see you, and you may need to reschedule.

• If we are unable to accommodate a late arrival, this will be treated as a missed appointment and may be subject to a charge.
• If you regularly arrive late, we may require a deposit for future appointments.

4. Payment of Fines and Future Appointments

We do not require deposits or upfront fines for cancellations or missed appointments. However, if a fine is applied, no further appointments will be scheduled until it has been paid.

• Fines must be settled within one month.
• Unpaid fines may result in removal from the practice’s patient list.

5. Practice Cancellations and Overruns

Occasionally, appointments may run over due to unforeseen circumstances, or we may need to reschedule due to clinical reasons. We value your time and will always try to provide as much notice as possible if we need to make changes to your appointment.

We appreciate your cooperation in helping us provide the best possible care for all our patients. If you have any questions or need to reschedule an appointment, please contact us as soon as possible.

☎ 0141 638 5539
📧 [email protected]