A ‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA) includes failure to attend a scheduled appointment, contacting the practice within 48 working hours of their appointment and/or are late for an appointment and cannot be seen at their scheduled time.
First Occurance
If a patient does not give the required notice by email (48 working hours’ notice) to reception@corkdentalcare.com, a €50 charge will be applied to their account, which needs to be cleared in full BEFORE the next appointment, otherwise the next appointment will be cancelled.
The Patient will also be informed that if a further appointment is not attended or cancelled within 48 working hours, they could be at risk of compromising their relationship with the Practice.
Second Occurance
Where a second ‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA) has occurred, the Practice will review the individual case and a decision will be taken with regard to addressing the Patient’s future ability to pre-book routine appointments. The Practice will consider whether consistent failure to adhere to our Practice Policy constitutes a breakdown between the Patient and the Dentist (where the Dental Practice has given clear instruction on policy and service provision and the Patient has chosen to disregard this on several occasions in spite of due warning).
HOW TO AVOID BECOMING A DNA (Did Not Attend)
If you cannot attend or no longer need an appointment, please ring us in advance, giving at least 48 business hours notice, by email only.
Mistakes do happen and the Practice understands that appointments can be forgotten about or overlooked. In such cases, the Practice will take into account the reason given by Patients.
Preference, of course, is for the Practice to know in advance so we can offer the appointment(s) to other Patients in need.
SHOULD YOU NEED TO RESCHEDULE, HERE’S HOW:
By email (48 working hours’ notice) – reception@corkdentalcare.com
What We As A Practice Are To Doing To Reduce DNAs
We are reminding the general public what our policy is and we feel that it is important to enforce it robustly.
It has been suggested and discussed with the Irish Dental Association that the Practice puts in place a system to improve services for Patients. We are currently reviewing our emergency appointments and routine appointments availability. Here is what we will endeavour to do to help you not become a DNA:
- If asked, we will always give an appointment card containing appointment details for Patients who make an appointment face to face at our reception desk. Our appointment cards contain our telephone number and email address should Patients need to cancel.
- If you make an appointment over the telephone, we would suggest that Patients’ record/document the date and time in a way that can be easily accessed – in a diary, on a calendar or for the more technically minded on a mobile phone. Our staff are trained to repeat all appointment details and clarify understanding with Patients at the time of making the appointment.
- We will send a SMS before your appointment to remind you of the date and time of your appointment.