Why do people attend routine dental appointments when they’re really ill??

[DontWantToGetSick]

I’m a dental hygienist. It’s two days before Christmas. Just had a patient in who I could hear coughing and spluttering before I even called them in. (Busy waiting room so I’m sure all the other patients loved that). Asked them if they are ok when I called them in, they said yes but feel like crap. Really sore throat, slight temperature, feel achy etc. I suggested we should rebook the appointment in the new year. Nope! Patient has a New Year’s party and they need their teeth clean for that! If I won’t see them they’ll write a complaint in as they’ve had this booked for months and I’m “not allowed to discriminate”. Lovely. So yes I can wear a mask, as we all know from Covid times they aren’t fully protective esp when you’re only 6 inches from someone’s face and they are coughing directly at you for a full half an hour. Not to mention the residual aerosol in the air for the next patient or two. That’ll be nice for me and everyone else to get sick just at Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Annoying. I would always cancel if I had an infectious disease. It's just considerate.

Is it discrimination to refuse to see a patient who is clearly ill as a dental hygienest? Sounds like common sense to me but maybe I am missing something

Our dentist sends out an email the day before the appointment saying you must cancel if you have cold or flu symptoms, and they reserve the right to refuse treatment. I once postponed my son's appointment three times because he was a toddler and constantly had a cold.

That is really unfair, I hope you don't come down with it.

Because you charge us the full price of the appointment if we cancel, you charge through the earth and remove people from your books if we don’t come to appointments.

I think you should be allowed to decline service. My surgery says they will turn me away if I'm ill (and I'd have to pay a short notice cancellation fee).

I must admit I had to cancel when last sick and I nearly didn't as I have to wait 5 months to see my hygenist as she's very popular but it would have been uncomfortable for both of us if I'd gone. I put my name down on the cancellations list and I was seen within a month so all worked out ok!

Because you have to book months ahead and pay up front, non transferable fees. I think its shit for you but your issue is with practice policy, not the patient.

Well I’m aiming to be out of dentistry within the next year anyway. I’ve had enough!

Like the posters above said, this is probably the inevitable consequence of making people pay for their appointments if they cancel them at short notice. Going to the dentist is expensive, and if it is anything like mine you wait months to see the hygienist so if you cancel you still pay then have to wait 3-6 months for another appointment. I get why you're annoyed as no one wants to get ill, particularly over Christmas, but I can see why they turned up for their appointment. I don't think they had any grounds for "discrimination" though.

Well I woke up Saturday after vomiting through the night - then phoned at 9am
When they opened to say im vommiting can’t make it so sorry for short notice etc - but they’ve kept my 30£ deposit for late cancellation - so I can see why people would go regardless of being ill

well i called and cancelled my 8.30 appt exvept couldn’t get through as was ill with sore throat cold/ woke up in night like it, and guess what they chucked me off the nhs list as did not give them 24 hrs notice , so if I ever get an nhs dentist again i will be going with whatever illness i have

It’s not discrimination to not see a patient if they are not fit to be seen!!! It’s what should happen. Make sure patients know this.

Well as I said I’m hopefully going to be changing career soon. I would much prefer a job with a salary and other benefits. Instead I don’t get sick pay, holiday pay, pension, I don’t get paid if a patient doesn’t turn up or cancels, I get complaints if I come in sick or turn someone away who is sick, I got complaints even when I took time off for my mums funeral, and I have no control over how or when the patient pays. I only get 30% of what the patient pays, and I get ZERO of any deposit they pay or the fee they pay if they don’t turn up. I only get paid for a patient I actually treat (and who pays. They walk out within paying or refuse to, I just worked for free).

It's selfishness and stupidity - same as parents sending their kids to school when they've been vomiting all night. There's a special place in hell for these idiots.

But it's also the worry of being struck off the register and having to pay for a full appointment because you cancelled at the last minute.

I don't know what the answer is on that one: if you don't charge, people WILL waste your time and appointments - already very hard to get. But when you charge, the sick ones come. Genuinely have no solution

If you have kids at school or commute or go to shops, you are just as likely to catch the germs anyway.

This. If people weren’t threatened with losing their dentist for cancelling appointments, maybe they wouldn’t show up sick 🫣

Depends on the policy. When I last had a routine dentists appt booked, I woke up with a horrible cold, so I called first thing and asked them, would you prefer I cancel or come in (it's an excellent nhs dentist, which is like gold dust, so didn't want to risk being taken off their books for not showing up, plus it's a courtesy to call anyway). They asked me to cancel and I re booked for a few weeks later. I expected to pay the charge for the short notice cancellation, but they said no charge. If they get sick and can't work that's loads of missed appointments, so much better for sick people not to come in. They know me and know I'm reliable so gave me benefit of the doubt. However there are some people who will take the mick, so policies have to be strict, with some flexibility at dentists discretion. I have had patients cancel for reasons including 'child invited to a playdate' 'child didn't want to come

I'm a physio and was so annoyed with the number of people who came in really sick last week - I don't want to be sick for christmas. It's really selfish, especially as we work with really vunerable life limited complex children, and if we pass something to them then it could put them in hospital.

I have had patients cancel for reasons including 'child invited to a playdate' 'child didn't want to come'. It's a difficult balance - when there is no cost to them, people can be really disrespectful of precious nhs time, but where there is a cost people will attend even when they shouldn't due to being sick.

It sounds like you work in an especially unfriendly dental practice, many of them don't treat their staff like that at all.

Also many people keep struggling to go to work when somewhat unwell so as not to let others down. They may travel on public transport, work in close proximity to others all day etc. That's the culture we live in. I'd go to the hygienist in the same situation as I have to pay in advance and give 48 hours notice. I don't usually know how I'm going to feel 48 hours into the future. (PS I think being a dentist is an awful job, and a hygienist even worse.)

We don't get seen at our dentist if we're ill. It's a proper 'no rebook' job. We get a phonecall a day or 2 before to check we're well and are we still needing the appointment.

sadly if dentists don't do that, people will waste their time just as people lose their GPs time

I haven't checked the figures, but when you know how rare and difficult it is to actually see a GP when you desperately need one:

More than 1.2 million GP hours are wasted each year in the UK due to patients missing their appointments without prior cancellation, according to figures released by NHS England. This is the equivalent of over 600 full-time GPs working for a year.

But it’s clearly not the answer because then people like OP’s patient turn up when they should clearly be at home in bed.

Guess that's why they keep telling me I need to return in 3 months. I once left it 4 years and the appointment only took slightly longer than usual, with no teeth falling out or any significant gum issues in the meantime.

I was booked in for a filling last year. Cost of £200. I had a bad cold & cough so rang up the day before to tell them & see if I could rebook. I was told that if I cancelled I would still be charged £100 so I had to go. I would definitely have preferred to cancel. It was very difficult to suppress my cough!

Because you would get struck off the list- at least at my practice

Yes this. My main motivator however would be the fact it takes MONTHS to get a new appointment.