Missed private Dentist apointement

Sally_A

NHS dentists are almost extinct around here.

But should they fine a patient, because as you say, life throws up problems?...maybe the problem is booking 6 months ahead, people lose appointment cards, or normal life has gone a bit belly up which could not have been anticipated when original date booked.

In these days of mobiles/emails etc, maybe better to contact the patient 2 weeks before their next appointment is due, as holidays, other commitments, problems are more likely to be known. Or text the patient 5 working days prior to pre-arranged appointment giving them the chance to rearrange if not convenient, this would then open up cancellations for emergency appointments.

They tried to fine me....they booked me in twice, their diary said, say 7th & 14th of the month, whereas my appointment card showed only the 14th

Torry_Quine

brook2jack wrote: »

Actually most dentists will block book from 15 minutes to 2 hour time slots trying to predict how long treatment will take. But the human body is very complex and doesn't always behave how it should.

So should you fine the person who is nervous and faints making the appointment run longer?

Should you fine the person who thought that just had a little chip off a tooth but actually has an abscess and needs treatment now?

Should you fine the person who comes in for a routine check up which reveals an urgent problem that needs referral?

Should you fine the dentist or receptionist because they are not psychic and cannot predict exactly how long every persons treatment is going to take?

Or do you think about a NHS dental system that requires dentists to fill every second of the day with treatment with no space for eventualities? Private dentists can build in time for longer appointments and keep spaces open for toothaches because they set their own fees.

That's what my dentist does. A short appointment for a check up and a longer one dependent on the treatment.

Sally_A wrote: »

NHS dentists are almost extinct around here.

But should they fine a patient, because as you say, life throws up problems?...maybe the problem is booking 6 months ahead, people lose appointment cards, or normal life has gone a bit belly up which could not have been anticipated when original date booked.

In these days of mobiles/emails etc, maybe better to contact the patient 2 weeks before their next appointment is due, as holidays, other commitments, problems are more likely to be known. Or text the patient 5 working days prior to pre-arranged appointment giving them the chance to rearrange if not convenient, this would then open up cancellations for emergency appointments.

They tried to fine me....they booked me in twice, their diary said, say 7th & 14th of the month, whereas my appointment card showed only the 14th

My dentist emails me immediately the appointment is made and then two weeks before and two days before with reminders.

brook2jack

Many things have been tried to reduce the enormous rates of dental failed appointments. Reminders, texts etc. They reduce the failure rate by around 5% . The costs of providing reminder texts in terms of computer software and licences is enormous. However few dental practices do not send some form of reminder.

Fining people for missing appointments is far more effective, when it was allowed in the NHS it reduced failure rates by more than half.

In an era where 40% of new patients fail their appointments , where the people most likely to fail appointments are men 19 to 25 (arguably those with the least amount of commitments) , where most failed appointments are not one offs but repeat offenders and where the costs of running a practice are sky high high and increasing at a rate of greater than 10% a year then it would seem that fining those who fail to keep appointments is the most effective way of ensuring that appointments are used effectively.

The difficulty is if a practice cannot fine a patient eg in NHS practice in England and Wales they have to try to fill spaces up , so end up "double booking" patients or booking in very short appointments knowing that some people will fail their appointments. This of course has the potential to go wrong when both double booked patients turn in.

brook2jack

This is quite old from 2010 but shows the problem with patients failing to turn up despite the fact the majority of practices send out reminders. An even greater percentage would send out reminders today.

The biggest thing to note is the rate of failed appointments increases when failures are not charged for , some people even say that as it won't cost them anything they are not bothered if they miss an appointment. https://www.bda.org/dentists/policy-campaigns/research/workforce-finance/gp/Documents/failure_to_attend_research_2010.pdf

stator

I can't believe whenever they say money is wasted by all these missed appointments because we all know they over book them. I am never seen on time. I always try to get the first appointment in the day and usually the dentist or GP is still late, or if it's a locum maybe they don't show up at all.

But back on to the topic of the thread:

OP please clarify if you have paid more to miss the appointment than you would have paid if you turned up, because that does sound dodgey.

paddedjohn

What's this got to do with insurance?

societys_child

paddedjohn wrote: »

What's this got to do with insurance?

Nothing really . . .


My dentist(s) generally run to time and text a reminder. They now ask you to reply 'OK' to their text which makes sense.