You can claim FTR if a patient repeatedly fails to attend for planned care or cancels at short notice.
A practice must follow its contract with the Commissioner where it specifies how many missed appointments are allowed before a Couse of Treatment (CoT) can be recorded as 'Incomplete Treatment'.
The practice must have an agreed 'Fail to Attend'/'Short Notice Cancellation' policy. This makes sure all missed or last-minute cancelled appointments are handled in a consistent, fair, and transparent way.
All members of the practice must be familiar with the policy and always follow it.
The number of 'Incomplete Treatment' claims submitted is monitored.
If unusual patterns of incomplete course of treatment activity are identified, these will be flagged in an exception report to the Commissioner.
Claiming for FTR
This depends on where your contract is located.
England
A Contract clinician must record on the claim:
- the date of the patient's last visit
- the appropriate 'Incomplete Treatment' charge band - this is Part 3 of the FP17 and used to calculate the patient charge due
- the treatment band relevant to the treatment that’s started but not completed - this must be entered on Part 5 of the FP17 and used to calculate the contract activity to be scheduled
The band in ‘Part 5’ on the FP17 must be the same as, or higher than, the band in ‘Part 3’ on the FP17.
The 'Late Submission' rule does not apply to claims submitted as 'Incomplete Treatment'.
Wales
If a patient has FTR, use the ‘incomplete treatment’ indicator unless you're claiming for an Extended Resorative Care Package and the patient has not received the planned 5 to 8 fillings or extractions.
Complete your claim as normal without selecting the ‘incomplete treatment’ indicator.
The relevant care package can be claimed if the preparation work has been done.
A laboratory fee may be claimed when the applicable care package was not completed and the patient is exempt from paying.