Cancellations & Changes Policy

We aim to provide a professional, straightforward and respectful service and to make the best possible use of the clinical time available to our patients.

You can expect us to:

• listen to your concerns and treat you respectfully
• explain our findings, recommendations, treatment options and costs clearly
• obtain appropriate consent before examination and treatment
• respect your decisions about your care
• make reasonable efforts to run appointments on time
• communicate openly if circumstances change

In return, we ask patients to:

• attend appointments on time wherever possible
• tell us about relevant changes to their health or circumstances
• ask if anything about their care is unclear
• treat our clinicians, staff and other patients respectfully
• provide appropriate notice when cancelling or changing an appointment

Appointments must be booked in advance. Tenby Health does not operate as a walk-in clinic.

Depending on the appointment type, a deposit or full advance payment may be required to reserve an appointment.

New Patient Consultations are currently secured by a deposit, with the remaining balance payable at the appointment.

Future appointments are normally payable in full when booked.

Where we agree to reserve an appointment before payment has been received, payment must be made by the agreed deadline. If payment is not received, Tenby Health may release the appointment so that it can be offered to another patient.

Payments made in advance remain subject to the cancellation terms below.
 

Please give us at least 48 hours notice if you need to cancel or change an appointment.

This notice period is important because the appointment time has been reserved specifically for you, and short-notice cancellations can leave us unable to offer that clinical time to another patient.

Where available, the quickest way to cancel is to use the cancellation link contained in your appointment confirmation or reminder. This immediately records the cancellation and allows the appointment time to become available again.

If you cannot use the cancellation link, please contact Tenby Health as soon as possible using one of our available communication methods.

The time at which you cancel the appointment or clearly notify us that you wish to cancel will normally be used when determining whether sufficient notice has been provided.

Cancellations with at least 48 hours notice

Where at least 48 hours’ notice is provided, no cancellation charge will normally apply.

Any eligible advance payment can be:

• refunded
• retained as credit on your account
• applied towards a replacement appointment

Please let us know which option you would prefer.
 

Cancellations with less than 48 hours’ notice  

Appointments cancelled or rescheduled with less than 48 hours’ notice, or missed without notice, will normally incur a cancellation charge of up to the full appointment fee.

This reflects the loss associated with clinical time that has been specifically reserved and cannot reasonably be offered to another patient at short notice.

Where the appointment time is successfully reallocated or our actual loss is otherwise reduced, we will not seek to recover more than our reasonable loss arising from the cancellation.

Tenby Health may choose to waive or reduce a cancellation charge in individual circumstances. Any such decision is discretionary and does not create an entitlement to the same arrangement on another occasion.

Cancelling while the clinic is closed 

Our email and telephone services are not routinely monitored during weekends, bank holidays or other periods when the clinic is closed.

Where possible, please use the cancellation link contained in your appointment confirmation or reminder. This enables the appointment to be cancelled and released without waiting for a member of the team to respond.

If you are unable to use the cancellation link, you may notify us using another available communication method. The time your cancellation message was received will be taken into account.

Because some forms of communication do not automatically release an appointment while the clinic is closed, Tenby Health may occasionally need to agree different future booking arrangements where necessary to allow appointment capacity to be managed fairly and effectively.

This may include adjusting:

• which appointment times can be reserved
• how far in advance appointments can be booked
• whether recurring appointment times can be held
• the way cancellations are communicated

Where a patient has particular communication or accessibility needs, we will consider reasonable alternative arrangements.

Repeated Cancellations, Rescheduling or Missed Appointments 

Where appointments are repeatedly cancelled, rescheduled, missed or not paid for as agreed, Tenby Health may change the way future appointments can be reserved.

For example, we may:

• stop reserving a recurring appointment time
• limit the number of appointments that can be booked in advance
• ask the patient to book closer to the date they wish to attend
• require advance payment before an appointment is confirmed
• offer alternative appointment times where this helps us manage availability more effectively

These measures are intended to ensure that appointment availability can be used fairly and effectively for all patients.

If Tenby Health Cancels Your Appointment 

Occasionally we may need to cancel or rearrange an appointment because of illness, equipment problems or other circumstances outside our control.

Where this happens, we will offer an alternative appointment or refund/credit any payment made for the affected appointment.

We will always try to provide as much notice as reasonably possible.

If you have ongoing circumstances that may regularly affect your ability to attend appointments, please speak to us! We’ll always do our very best to help accommodate you through difficult times.