Some dental practices are scrapping their entire lists of NHS patients as they move to become fully private. Bristol North West MP Darren Jones raised the alarm in Parliament last week where he highlighted that not only are many dentists not taking on new patients, but some are removing existing NHS patients from their books altogether.
He said the "crisis in NHS dentistry continues to worsen" and a surgery in his constituency had "removed its entire NHS list to become fully private". The British Dental Association (BDA) has described the situation as a “national crisis, hitting millions of patients” and said in the South West region, 75 per cent of dentists have committed to reduce, or further reduce, the amount of NHS work they take on.
Mr Jones referenced Bell Barn Dental Practice in Stoke Bishop as one of the dental surgeries that has recently gone private. A message to patients on its website confirms: "Despite discussions with the local NHS dental commissioners regarding funding, we are unable to carry on providing NHS dental treatment in Bell Barn Dental Practice in Bristol and Clyde House Dental in Swindon. This is not a decision we have taken lightly, but we simply cannot carry on under the current NHS contract.
