Patients are at the heart of everything we do and so may we take this opportunity to make some promises to you, and to ask some promises of you….

We promise to:

  • Treat you with respect and understanding.
  • Listen and respond promptly, sympathetically and constructively to all comments.
  • Use only proven, safe and biocompatible materials and techniques.
  • Invest constantly in acquiring new knowledge, skills and technology.

We ask you to:

  • Arrive in good time for your appointments.
  • Follow our instructions to care for your smile.
  • Attend review and maintenance appointments as advised.
  • Pay for treatments when required.
  • Talk to us, let us know what you think of what we do, right and wrong.
  • Help our practice grow by recommending us to your family, friends and colleagues.

To keep our prices to a reasonable level it is necessary for the fixed running costs of the practice to be met. This requires the dental surgeons and hygienist to be operating in their surgeries to maximum efficiency. For this reason we have in place a non-attendance policy.

Our mission is to provide outstanding care for our patients, in an efficient manner. Twickel Dental employs a strict Failure to Attend/Late Cancel policy in order to ensure patients have access to care with minimal delay. By not attending an appointment, it wastes vital time which could be offered to patients awaiting treatment or who may be in pain.

We will strive to accommodate the appointment needs of our patients and make every effort to provide emergency dental care where needed at short notice.

Policy for Non- Attendance Private Patients (registered and new patients)

If a patient has difficulty in attending pre-booked appointments, we suggest that they contact Twickel Dental giving 48 business hours notice. We will try to offer you the nearest available appointment for that day assuming availability exists or another day.

When we schedule an appointment for a patient, we are reserving the surgery time off for that patient’s treatment. As you can appreciate, the surgery time is valuable for people in need and expensive to run.

From the 1st of January 2025, failure to give the appropriate notice of cancellation will result in a Failed Appointment Fee or Late Cancellation Fee, which will be used to cover the cost of the surgery time wasted.

You will also need to pay any other additional laboratory fees incurred (when the reservation deposit doesn’t cover all costs), the final decision being at the discretion of the Practice owner.

Failure to attend/late cancel an appointment will result in the deposit being charged, meaning that the deposit for your appointment reservation will become:

  • fully non-refundable for examinations, hygiene and emergency appointments (new fee will need to be paid before a new appointment can be booked)
  • fully or partial non-refundable for scheduled treatment appointments – failed to attend/late cancel fee being calculated from £20 for each 10 minutes of the missed/late cancelled appointment (depending on the clinician and the resources used in preparation for your appointment)
  • for exam and hygiene appointments booked together on the same day, we reserve the right to not refund the equivalent of £20 for each 10 minutes of the missed/late cancelled appointments (approximately £100), due to both dentist’s and hygienist’s wasted clinical time
    To book for appointments, our practice reserves the right to ask for a full deposit for private examination, hygiene visits and emergency appointments and partial deposits (50% or above) for treatment appointments. This fee will be deductibile from the total cost of the treatment.

If more than 2 appointments are missed, future appointments for private patients may not be offered.

If a new patient fails to attend their 1st appointment we reserve the right to refuse further appointments at our practice.
It is understandable that sometimes cancellations cannot be helped due to exceptional situations and we will take all valid circumstances into account.

If you need to change the appointment, we require at least 2 working days notice (for more complex cases there maybe longer notice required please – see full terms and conditions of your treatment plan). A deposit will not be refunded without the required notice.
We regret that treatment will only be given to patients with up to date accounts. Patients with any outstanding fees that have not been paid may not be seen for a further appointment until the balance is paid in full.

If, for any reason, you decide that you no longer wish to continue a planned treatment at Twickel, please be aware that you will be charged for any treatment completed by the clinician or laboratory technician.

Treatment plans are estimates and we will endeavour to inform you should the charges change once the treatment plan has started. Additional procedures will be carried out if essential and in the best interest of the patient.

Estimates are valid for three months from the date of the treatment plan.

Policy for Non- Attendance Practice Plan Patients

We kindly ask patients to notify us 48 hours before their appointment if they are unable to attend. Providing this notice is given we will happily re-book that appointment for you as part of your membership. Should you not give us 48 hours notice or fail to attend, please note this will count as your included plan appointments used and to re-book you will be asked to pay a private fee to be seen OR wait until your next due membership appointment, this may be 6 months from the time you fail or late cancel.

The membership is designed to keep patients healthy through regular attendance and as such it is your responsibility to ensure you have your routine appointments booked. Missed appointments for the year cannot be rolled over, nor exchanged into credit or refunds.

Policy for Non- Attendance NHS Patients

Failed Appointment fees must be settled before any other appointment is offered. Please note that we cannot accept notice of cancellation by e-mail or text message as these are not screened daily.

Definition of ‘failure to attend’ (FTA): Patients that have missed or have not cancelled/ rescheduled 48 hours in advance of their pre-booked appointment (exceptional circumstances are at the discretion of the practice). Under the National Health (Dental Charges) Regulations 2005 (Section 3) the practice will not be able to charge patients for failing to attend appointments.
All failures to attend will be documented in the patient file/record.

A 1st failure to attend- will result in a written or verbal communication being given. The patient will be given the opportunity to rebook the appointment. They will also be advised by reception staff that in accordance with PCT policy and General Dental Service Regulations 2005, Schedule 3 Part 1 (5), they risk refusal of completion of the NHS course of treatment if they miss their next appointment.

A 2nd failure to attend- If a patient continually fails to attend appointments and misses 2 or more appointments, given less than 48 hours notice, “the practice may feel this constitutes and irrevocable breakdown in relations”. Under the NHS (General Dental Services) Regulations 2005, Schedule 3 Part 1 (5) and the patient may therefore be refused further NHS treatment at the practice.

Twickel Dental reserves the right to refuse further treatment to patients who fail to attend two or more appointments. This would potentially mean their removal from the practice registration list.

Short notice cancellation/ late arrival

We understand that some patients travel long distances to get to the clinic, and in some cases being late for appointments can be unavoidable. Patients arriving more than 10 minutes late for a Dentist, Therapist or Hygienist appointment may be requested to reschedule their appointment as it would be difficult to fit their appointment in without the dentist/hygienist/therapist running late for other patients.

Cancelling at short notice makes it very difficult to offer your appointment to other patients in need, preventing them from utilising that time and costs the practice money. It is the dentist’s prerogative to remove from his or her list anyone who has a poor attendance or short notice cancellation history.

Due to the uncertainty of offering personalised healthcare treatment, occasionally our appointments can over-run. The team at Twickel Dental recognise the value of your time and work hard to ensure your appointment is punctual. However in circumstances beyond our control, Twickel Dental may be required to cancel or reschedule appointments.

Cancelling on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of clinical confidentiality. If you are cancelling on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have their permission to do so, unless they are incapable (because of physical and mental illness) or you are the parent/family member or carer for the patient.

Text and email appointment reminders are provided out of courtesy not necessity. It is your responsibility to turn up on time to your appointment.

Please note that, although we normally send email and/or text message reminders prior to appointments, the successful delivery of these relies on our text provider, your mobile network provider and your phone and cannot therefore be guaranteed. Therefore, you should not rely on our emails or text messages as the sole reminder of your appointment. We will not be responsible for any appointments missed as a result of non- delivery of these text message reminders, regardless of the reasons for its failure.

For any patient wishing to dispute the policy due to a situation out of your control we request something is put in writing to the Practice Manager: rachel@twickel-dental.co.uk, Twickel Dental Practice 23 Barrow Street, Much Wenlock TF13 6EN.
Personal Details:

It is very important that you give a full medical history and details of any medication you take. Should these change in any way, it is very important for you to tell your Dentist. It is the patient’s responsibility to inform the clinic of any changes in either personal details and/or their medical history.

Guarantee:

At Twickel Dental we offer a like for like 12 month guarantee for fillings, and crown and bridgework, provided that the following conditions are met:

  • The patient has fully paid for the treatment and does not owe the practice any money for the treatment received.
  • The restorations have not been damaged as a result of an accident, trauma or excessive grinding.
  • The patient has followed all post treatment maintenance recommendations made by our dentists.
  • The patient has attended and routine examination every 6 months.
  • Some treatments may have a guarantee of less than 1 year, and in this case you will be informed by your Dentist.

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

Twickel Dental has a duty to provide a safe and secure environment for staff and patients. Unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated at Twickel Dental Practice. Should any of the examples below happen, decisive action will be taken. Violent or threatening behaviour will be reported to the Police.

Examples of unacceptable behaviour are:

  • Verbal abuse which includes shouting, using foul language both face to face or over the phone
  • Physical violence or threats
  • Racial abuse or sexual harassment
  • Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to our staff
  • Causing damage to the practice
  • Theft

Twickel Dental reserves the right to request clients who repeatedly cancel appointments at short notice, fail to attend, arrive late or are rude/abusive to find another service provider.

Should you have any questions at all prior to your next appointment with us, please do not hesitate to call us on 01952728799 and a member of our team will be happy to advise you.