Dentist charges

[Dentistquestion]

I had sickness and diarrhoea last week, I phoned on the morning of my dentist appointment with a hygienist and they cancelled the appointment. I called today to re-book, the lady told me I had to pay their cancellation fee, as it was out of their 48 hour cancellation period, I explained I had a sickness bug which started the evening before and called them in the morning, as soon as they opened, but I still have to pay it before they’ll book me in again, which feels a bit unfair because I couldn’t predict I was going to be unwell, but I’m going to have to suck it up and pay it.
Do most dentists have these rules in place? I’ve never cancelled or not turned up to an appointment prior to this.

Yes, but I've never been charged for it (maybe I have a good record?). Then again I usually phrase it as "I (or DC) am vomiting and have diarrhoea, do you still want me to come today?"

I think most do, unless you cancel within their time period.

Mine has a 24 hour window but they make it very clear on all correspondence. I did once do it on the day and they waived the fee, but they'd had about £4k off me so I think that's only fair!
They should just say you can pay it off in increments so over the next few sessions.
If you don't want to pay you can always just go elsewhere I guess.

Yeah, it’s pretty normal. They can’t fill the spot if you cancel last minute

We have to pay in advance now, pay when you book and 48 hours before for a cancellation. The thing is we have never cancelled on them but they have cancelled on us several times, once when my DH was leaving work early and driving two hours to get there, he was already on the road when they cancelled!

Their time period is 48 hours.
I understand they can’t fill the spot, but I’m sure they wouldn’t want me waiting in the practice with sickness and diarrhoea, it couldn’t have been prevented.
It’s an unavoidable situation.

And another thing, they often cancel my children’s appointments, although not 2 days before, but they still do for reasons such as, the dentist isn’t working that afternoon, or we only have 1 dentist working etc, even though I booked it in advance.

It may unavoidable but that doesn’t mean they should have to take a financial hit. Otherwise everyone could just say they have D&V to avoid paying for missed appointments.

Them having to cancel or rearrange is irrelevant as you’re not missing out financially.

It's not necessarily true that you aren't missing out if they cancel, many people have to take time off work and juggle their lives to get to the dentist, it may or may not cost actual money but it's very annoying and disrupting when they give zero notice.

Of course it’s annoying but if they’ve not got the staff, they’ve not got the staff - my point was that it’s not like OP is paying for an appointment even though it’s cancelled.

I still have to arrange my schedule as a full time working parent.
For all they know, I may have booked time off work and lost the pay. It works both ways.

You having to take a day off work to attend is totally irrelevant to them as a business, though 🙈

It’s not irrelevant, they rely on our attendance to function. If I don’t take time off to attend my paid appointment, they don’t get the money 🙈

Of course it's irrelevant - they don't care what you need to do to get there!

My dentist is 24hrs notice for cancellations.

48hrs is a very long notice period, unreasonable i'd suggest.

I'm a dentist we used to have a 24 hour cancellation policy it's now 48 hours due to the sheer volume of cancellations we get when we send reminders out.
It's like no-one records appointments anymore. They simply react to the reminder.
This is your appointment that you booked, we sent a confirmation of the booking and have now sent you a reminder of something you now can't attend as you are insert something random such as your second cousin is having a BBQ. The receptionist then spends the day trying to fill the diary.

Email the practice manager and tell them what you’ve told us here

you’re really sorry but you had an unavoidable illness that you couldn’t have foreseen 48hrs before. You understand the policy etc etc Is there anyway this fee could be waived on this occasion

worth a try

Out off interest, how does that work for a Monday appointment and you open on weekends....

Would me emailing or leaving a message on your ans phone on Saturday morning be enough notice?

We require 2 working days notice. So message left at 11pm on a Friday night for a first thing on Monday is a no. The notice is to give us time to fill the slots. We're an NHS practice so have targets to hit otherwise we get financial clawback and private practices will have the usual bills and running costs to pay whether the have a patient being treated or not.
Illness not a problem contact us to discuss whether you are well enough to attend. Also worth bearing in mind most practices will log reasons for cancellation so will have a good idea if the cancellation at late notice has been used before and I will ask about how Great Aunt Suzy is now when you next come.

The 48 hours from a lot of businesses seems to be a direct response to a massive increase in people being disorganised, maybe overcommitting or struggling generally. I agree 24 hours would be much better but only works if it's only the odd appointment being cancelled. Unfortunately the reminders go out and the cancellations start.

But it is relevant, if I attend or not, as they don’t get my money to fund their business, so whilst my means of getting to them may be irrelevant, me not going, is relevant to sustain the financial side of the practice.

Interesting and then do they give you a discount for their cancellation? They should, just like they charge if you are unable to attend due to sickness.
they are so expensive and yet call all the shots, really unfair I reckon

That’s ridiculous, if the patient has no means of contacting your practice within that time frame, they shouldn’t have to pay the price for it. There should be a system in place online, where a patient can cancel due to sickness, at the weekend.
If the practice requires 24 hours notice, then it’s unlikely that cancellation will be filled anyway, most working people need more than 24 hours notice for an appointment to take time off work.

I had this problem a few weeks ago . I had a cold that suddenly got a lot worse by the morning of my appointment. I went to the appointment and said it was the hygienist call if she was ok about treating me . She sent me home and not charged because I went to the appointment.

No they don’t offer a cancellation discount, when they cancel my appointment, but I’m expected to pay for it, if I unfortunately fall ill.
It is unfair, I’ve never cancelled, or not turned up to an appointment before. I’m sure they wouldn’t have wanted to treat a patient with a sickness bug either.