We now send all our patients a courtesy reminder of their appointments by text message, a few days before it is due, providing we have an up to date telephone number. We have had a good response from patients, who all agree it is very useful and of course it reduces the postage costs of the practice, which were escalating rapidly.

However, it must remain the patient’s responsibility to remember to attend and patients should always take a note of their next appointment as, sadly, we may still have to make a charge for repeated missed appointments.

Patients then have a chance to make any arrangements to get here, but also have time to cancel their appointment if necessary, giving us time to try and manage the diaries more effectively.

WE DO NOT EXPECT A REPLY FROM YOUR TEXT REMINDER AND UNFORTUNATELY DO NOT HAVE THE FACILITY TO ACCEPT TEXTS IN REPLY.

PLEASE RING THE PRACTICE IF YOU NEED TO CANCEL OR CHANGE YOUR APPOINTMENT, LEAVING A CLEAR MESSAGE ON OUR ANSWER PHONE IF WE ARE CLOSED. HOWEVER WE DO ASK YOU TO PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU LET US KNOW IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MOBILE NUMBER.