Dentist

[simon]

Hi

I am with the NHS dentist, I pay for my treatment, however I missed an appointment a bit ago and got a letter saying I missed it, now I have jst got anther letter saying I missed another appointment in February 2013 !! And am now been discharged from the practice !

I might have had 2 appointments but seen as I missed the first one it would of been pointless going for the seccond one. The first one was for X-rays and seccond for work doing from X-rays.

I think that's how they get that I have missed two appointments but I carnt be certain that I missed two as I ave been many times recently.

But why send a letter like this 3 and a half months later !! I have no leg to stand on because I carnt remember exactly what happened over 3 months ago !

Takeaway_Addict

The question of why send a letter 3 months later is surely answered by the fact that they can.

Surely the question should be why didn't you contact them at least to let them know there was no point in attending the second appointment (though I would have expected this to have become the first appointment and a second one set up later?)

wealdroam

[simon] wrote: »

Hi

I am with the NHS dentist, I pay for my treatment, however I missed an appointment a bit ago and got a letter saying I missed it, now I have jst got anther letter saying I missed another appointment in February 2013 !! And am now been discharged from the practice !

I might have had 2 appointments but seen as I missed the first one it would of been pointless going for the seccond one. The first one was for X-rays and seccond for work doing from X-rays.

I think that's how they get that I have missed two appointments but I carnt be certain that I missed two as I ave been many times recently.

But why send a letter like this 3 and a half months later !! I have no leg to stand on because I carnt remember exactly what happened over 3 months ago !

When you missed the first appointment, did you cancel the second 'pointless' appointment?

I fear you already have your answer...

[simon] wrote: »

I have no leg to stand on...

Or did you perhaps have another question?

aliasojo

[simon] wrote: »

I am with the NHS dentist, I pay for my treatment, however I missed an appointment a bit ago and got a letter saying I missed it.....

So what happened when you phoned them to apologise and to reschedule the 1st appointment?

You did phone them, right? You wouldn't have been so daft to just not bother, would you?

artbaron

So you couldn't be bothered to ring and cancel your first appointment and when you were given a second you couldn't be bothered to ring and cancel that either. Sorry, what was your question?

tinkerbell28

No consumer issue here. You missed two appts and couldn't be bothered to reschedule and let them know. They would not have discharged you otherwise.

You are wasting NHS appointments and an NHS space someone else could have.

OlliesDad

artbaron wrote: »

So you couldn't be bothered to ring and cancel your first appointment and when you were given a second you couldn't be bothered to ring and cancel that either. Sorry, what was your question?

I think he was saying both appointments were booked at the same time.. as the first was missed the second was pointless.

OP, I suspect that the decision was made that in the past 3 months they have lost money and therefore do not want you as a customer. If you had called to apologise and re-book the appointment they may have been more forgiving.

shaun_from_Africa

I think he was saying both appointments were booked at the same time.. as the first was missed the second was pointless.

But surely the second appointment being pointless or not was the dentists decision to make.

Maybe they had decided that as the X-ray wasn't carried out due to the first appointment being missed, they would do this during the 2nd appointment and then make a further booking for the required work to be carried out.

Cooper18

Many NHS departments (mine included, though I'm not a dentist) operate a 2 strikes and you're out policy. So you failed to attend 2 separate appointments you get discharged. In my department we only deal with consultant referrals so we actually contact the consultant with a letter basically saying your patient didn't show up, we're not giving them another appointment.

Tbh patients that don't turn up irritate the hell out of me. They cost us a fortune in time and resources, and deny other patients quicker appointments.

OlliesDad

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

But surely the second appointment being pointless or not was the dentists decision to make.

Maybe they had decided that as the X-ray wasn't carried out due to the first appointment being missed, they would do this during the 2nd appointment and then make a further booking for the required work to be carried out.

I totally agree, i was just correcting Artbaron's error.

Agricolae

Ouch, this is a pretty big consensus.

Might be time for the OP to find a new surgery. Learning curve and all that.