Just had my dentist appt cancelled with <2hrs notice

[SteakBakesAndHotTakes]

I've booked the time off and just got a text. This is now the second time they have done this. Why do patients get removed from the dental register if they cancel with less than 24hrs notice but this is acceptable?

Yes

Dentist here. We do take patients of the NHS list but not for one cancellation. Our system records the type of cancellation. So if we have had to cancel it’s not considered an issue. I think the only time I’ve cancelled patients short notice is when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a lot of appointments to attend which were often arranged at short notice. And then there was the time when my DH had an accident at home mowing the lawn and was also looking after DS who was 5 at the time so I had to dash home.

Sadly, when I started to miscarry I stuck it out to the end of the session. When my DM died I turned up the next day and worked. I was lucky that DS was rarely ill so didn’t have to take much time off with him. I was back to work within 48hrs of having laparoscopies and a medically managed miscarriage. Would have gone back sooner but legally can’t work for 48hrs after a general anaesthetic.
We are self employed, if we don’t work we don’t get paid.

Other reasons for cancelling can be equipment outage or power failure. Leaks are a problem from time to time and if we don’t have support staff it can be dangerous to work. Very occasionally we have a medical emergency which can upset the staff and dentist. If we’ve had to do resuscitation would you want the dentist to carry out treatment if they’ve spent the last hour doing CPR. Even A&E staff find it difficult moving on if they’ve spent have lost a patient. It always amazes me how derogatory people can be about A&E staff when you consider what they face every day.

I had a patient faint on me a few weeks ago, a common occurrence, and you can’t just shove them out of the door. Fortunately the rest of my patients were very understanding. We never used to make excuses for running behind but we find we get less complaints if we tell them why. However, you don’t always want everyone knowing why you are not working.I had to have 4 mnths off when undergoing treatment for breast cancer. I was happy explain on my return but didn’t want the world knowing when I was going through it. Or people contacting DH or DS for info. Even then the rumour mill was still horrendous. My DH had numerous queries from “acquaintances” who were worried that I’d left.

Dentists and their staff are human and have personal emergencies.

Mine got cancelled as I was walking out of the door to go. I had gone 6 months earlier for emergency locum treatment and the receptionist booked me in. I was told, with 20 minutes notice, that that didn't give me patient status. I really needed to see them too. (No nhs for 50 miles and can't afford private)

Lucky to have a dentist.
Some people can't get them.