Local NHS Dentists Cash Crunch

1.51.10pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 27th Feb 2006

Several local dentists who recently opened their practices in Hampton and Teddington are now faced with a major cash crunch as the NHS is only willing to pay them, under new dental contracts, for the number of patients they had two years ago. They may face the choice of closing their doors to NHS patients or closing altogether unless last minute changes can be made.

MP Vincent Cable has taken up their cause with the Minister and with the local Primary Care Trust and says: "this is a dreadful example of rigid, over centralised, bureaucratic NHS rules overriding simple common sense. There is a chronic shortage of dentists providing services on the NHS. So, several dentists came forward to take NHS patients and open practices in areas like Hampton, which are now well served. They then find that they can only now be paid for patients they had in 2004, not last year when their practices were growing rapidly. I have written strong letters of protest to the Minister and to the local PCT which is administering this utterly mad, counter productive, new system".