PATIENT DENTAL ATTENDANCE POLICY

Kingston Beach Dental is a family-owned business providing excellent customer service and quality dentistry. We are not a large corporate dental practice that can absorb the cost of broken appointments. We follow good business practices and patient care principles including efficient appointment scheduling; using quality equipment and materials; and by ensuring we are well-resourced with capable and experienced staff to care for you.

Rationale
A missed appointment or late cancellation places a financial strain on our business as we have the surgery reserved and staff allocated specifically for your appointment. It is also unfair to other patients who may be waiting for appointments for emergency care or urgent treatment as they have also missed out on that appointment time. Finally, your health is impacted if you do not complete diagnosed treatment or prioritise your preventative care.

It is time consuming and often logistically difficult for our receptionists to fill appointments cancelled at short notice or that are not attended. Our cancellation policy is based on the same rationale as many other industries including the airline industry, hospitality and medical practices. Since the time has been set aside for you, if you do not use it, it is highly unlikely at short notice that it can be used by anyone else.

Your Commitment to Your Appointment Booking
Our appointments are confirmed at the time of booking. When you book an appointment we are reserving that clinical time especially for your care. We ask that you choose a time that you can attend.

It is your responsibility to record the details of the appointment in your calendar to ensure you remember the booking you have made, particularly if it is booked a long way in advance. Of course, we will happily write the details on an appointment card for you or send you an SMS/email with the details when you make the appointment.

Courtesy Reminders
As an additional courtesy we send a reminder by email or SMS a week before your appointment. These contacts by us should not be relied upon when attending your appointments. We cannot be held responsible for IT issues, changes of your contact details or for circumstances where you may not receive courtesy reminders.

Consideration of Your Circumstances
The last few years have presented incredible challenges for everyone regarding balancing individual health and the health of the community. There have been times where we have had to reschedule appointments due to practitioner illness and we have appreciated patients giving us as much notice as possible regarding Covid risk and needing to reschedule as well.
Of course, we understand that at times, there will be legitimate emergency reasons for cancelling an appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice and we will always give these circumstances individual consideration.

Your appointment attendance history will also be considered.

Cancellation Fee
Kingston Beach Dental reserves the right to charge an $85 cancellation fee for all appointments cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice or when appointments are missed.

For repeated late cancellations and failure to attend scheduled appointments we may require a non-refundable deposit to secure another appointment.

Alternatively, our Practice Principal may invite you to find another dental provider. You are agreeing to this policy when you book appointments and when you sign our Medical History paperwork.

Contacting Us to Update or Change Your Booking
If you do need to change or cancel your appointment, please call our helpful Front of House team on 62296775. Alternatively leave a voice message or send an email to reception@kingstonbeachdental.com.au if outside our regular business hours.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation in agreeing to our policy which we believe is fair and reasonable to continuing providing a quality dental experience and excellent service for all of our patients.