Free resource

Dental practice hours-back checklist

For UK dental practices that want patient reminders, recall work and treatment-plan follow-up to run more consistently without removing practice-team judgement.

Work through the sections when reviewing your practice management system, reminder settings and patient communication rules. The aim is to automate routine prompts while keeping sensitive decisions with the practice team.

Appointment reminders and confirmations

Set a clear reminder sequence so patients have enough notice to confirm, rearrange or ask for help before the appointment is missed.

  • List each appointment type that needs reminders: routine check-ups, hygienist appointments, treatment visits, emergency slots and longer procedures.
  • Write a respectful 72-hour, 24-hour and same-day reminder sequence that includes the appointment time, practice contact route and a simple way to cancel or rearrange.
  • Trigger reminders from the practice management system, then pause the sequence as soon as the patient confirms, cancels or the practice team marks it for manual handling.

Cancellations and waitlist filling

Use cancellations as a controlled workflow, not a scramble at reception when chair time has already opened up.

  • Create a cancellation trigger that records the open slot, appointment length, clinician and treatment type before any waitlist message is sent.
  • Build waitlist groups by urgency, treatment fit, availability and patient consent to be contacted about earlier appointments.
  • Send a short availability message to a small batch first, then stop the sequence as soon as the slot is filled so patients are not contacted unnecessarily.

6 and 12 month recall campaigns

Keep routine care visible by prompting patients at the right interval without turning recall into a manual spreadsheet exercise.

  • Separate 6-month and 12-month recall groups using the patient record, last appointment date and clinician recommendation.
  • Start the recall sequence 4 weeks before the due date, with a second prompt after 2 weeks if no booking is made.
  • Flag patients with clinical notes, complaints, vulnerable-patient markers or unusual circumstances for practice-team review before any automated message sends.

Treatment-plan follow-up

Follow up patients who accepted or discussed treatment but left without booking, while keeping clinical judgement with the dentist and treatment coordinator.

  • Identify the treatment-plan stages that should create a follow-up task: plan accepted, estimate sent, finance discussed or first appointment not booked.
  • Send a calm follow-up after 3 working days that references the discussed plan without adding clinical detail beyond what the patient has already received.
  • Require manual approval for higher-value, sensitive or clinically complex treatment plans before any follow-up message is sent.

Lapsed-patient reactivation

Give inactive patients a considerate route back to the practice without treating recall as marketing by default.

  • Define lapsed groups by time since last appointment, treatment history and consent status, then exclude patients who have opted out or should not be contacted.
  • Write one reactivation message that invites the patient to book a check-up or contact the practice if their circumstances have changed.
  • Review non-responders after the sequence ends, then decide whether to close the task, update the record or keep the patient on a manual recall list.

Compliance and practice-team review

Make automation safer by deciding where it should stop, ask for review or hand the conversation back to a person.

  • Keep automated messages administrative and avoid clinical advice, diagnosis or treatment recommendations in reminder and recall copy.
  • Check that each workflow uses the correct lawful basis, consent status and communication preference before messages are sent.
  • Create a monthly review of message logs, opt-outs, complaints and failed sends so the practice can improve the process without losing oversight.

Want a hand setting it up

We can wire this up so it runs reliably

On a free 20-minute fit call we will look at your practice management system, reminder rules, recall rhythm and treatment-plan follow-up, then tell you which of the steps above to automate first.

Book a free fit call