1 WHY THIS POLICY MATTERS

At CEIC, we know that life with children can be unpredictable. Illnesses happen, emergencies arise and sometimes life just does not go to plan. Our Cancellation Policy explains how we manage cancellations and rescheduling, to support families while also ensuring we can continue to provide consistent, high-quality care for every child and family.

Please take a moment to read this before making an appointment with CEIC.

When an appointment is cancelled without sufficient notice, it impacts not only your child’s progress but also our CEIC team’s time and the availability of appointments for other families. Like you, our team plans their day around each child – your time is important and so is theirs.

2 IF YOU NEED TO CANCEL

We kindly ask that you provide as much notice as possible for any cancellation or need to reschedule. You can contact us via phone or email – whatever is easiest for you.

3 WHAT IF MY CHILD IS SICK?

• We understand that children get sick and that health comes first. Please keep your child home and notify us as soon as possible if your child:
  • has a fever, or has had a fever in the past 24 hours
  • has vomited or had diarrhoea in the past 24 hours
  • has symptoms of a contagious illness (e.g. cold or flu, conjunctivitis, hand foot & mouth, school sores, head lice etc)
  • is feeling unwell and would not benefit from their appointment

We appreciate early notice whenever possible, but we also understand that illness can come on suddenly. We ask that you contact us as soon as you notice symptoms, even if it’s on the day of your appointment.

4 IF YOU’RE FINDING IT HARD TO ATTEND

If you’re facing challenges getting to sessions regularly – perhaps around transport, timing, family commitments or anything else, please talk to us. We’ll do our best to find flexible solutions that work for your family.

5 WHEN A CANCELLATION FEE MAY APPLY – SHORT NOTICE CANCELLATIONS

CEIC may charge up to 100% of the appointment fees if notice is provided less than two (2) clear business days before the appointment and we cannot reallocate the time. In the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) guidelines, this is known as a ‘Short Notice Cancellation’.

Here are some examples of what is meant by less than ‘two (2) clear business days’ in relation to a Short Notice Cancellation:

• Example 1 (NDIS example): An appointment is scheduled for 10am on a Tuesday following a Public Holiday on Monday of the same week, with the appointment cancelled at 10am on the Thursday before the Public Holiday. Only one clear business day has been provided, being the Friday.
• Example 2: An appointment is scheduled for 2pm Thursday, and the appointment is cancelled at 4pm on Tuesday. While the cancellation is made 2 days prior, it falls outside of two clear business days because Wednesday is the only clear business day.
• Example 3: An appointment is scheduled for 9am Friday morning and cancelled at 3:30pm on Wednesday. As the cancellation happened after business hours start on Wednesday, only Thursday counts as a clear business day.
• Example 4: An appointment is made for 12pm Wednesday and no notice of cancellation is given, with the session being missed and unattended entirely.

6 CANCELLATION FEES

We reserve the right to charge up to 100% of the appointment fee against a participant’s NDIS Plan, or payment method on file (credit/debit card) if self-managed, for Short Notice Cancellations.

We will inform you of any cancellation fees applied by CEIC via email with details on the ways to contact us if you believe a cancellation fee is incorrect.

Private Health Fund and Medicare rebates are not applicable to cancellation fees.

7 NO SHOWS AND MISSED APPOINTMENTS

If no notice is given and an appointment is missed entirely, we will try to follow up with you to check everything is okay. No-shows may incur cancellation fees as a Short Notice Cancellation.

If two (2) or more appointments are missed in a row, or attendance at appointments becomes inconsistent, we may place your appointments on hold and offer the appointments to another family on our waitlist.

If your appointments are covered by a NDIS Plan, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) monitors claims and may follow up with CEIC or your family in circumstances of an unusually high number of cancellations.

8 QUESTIONS?

We would be happy to discuss our Cancellation Policy or anything else at any time. Please contact us on: 4384 7214 or email admin@ceic.com.au.