The Dental Centre

Appointments Policy 

At the Elizabeth Street Dental Centre we will endeavour  to manage our appointment system to avoid delays in appointment times and minimise loss of surgery time through cancellations and failed appointments.

In our  practice we

• Communicate  with patients in a courteous, friendly, professional manner.
• Make  sure that patients receive full information about our services, their treatment and its cost.
• Provide  advice and treatment outside normal surgery hours where necessary.
• Refer  patients for further professional advice and treatment where appropriate.

In our  practice we will

• Ensure that patients should have to wait no longer than 15 minutes to be seen. Where there is a further delay we will explain the reasons.
• Remind patients of their appointment by phone, email
  or text (as preferred) where the appointment time exceeds 30 minutes.
• Monitor our waiting times for treatment and for booking appointments.
• Provide as much notice as possible when appointments have to be changed or cancelled and explain the reasons.
• Advise  patients if there is a change of dentist.
• Advise  patients of the appropriate recall interval following the N.I.C.E . guidelines which can be up to two years. Should you not attend within that two years, we can take you on again as a patient, provided we are accepting New Patients at that given time.

In return, we would like you to

• Participate in your dental treatment, particularly any advice about prevention and diet that we have asked you to continue at home.
• Arrive on time for your appointment. Please give the practice at least 24 hours notice if you are unable to keep your appointment. We may charge for missed appointments where we have not been notified or late cancellation of appointments (Hygienist/Private)
• If you miss an appointment on more than one occasion without letting us know, or cancel appointments at short notice we may need to review future provision of treatment for you at the practice (NHS patients).
• Please advise us of any changes to your contact details (address, telephone numbers, email) to help us keep our records up to date and ensure that we are able to contact you.