Thousands affected as five dental practices close down to NHS patients immediately

Thousands of people in Merseyside may be left without a dentist after five practices closed down to NHS patients. In August 2023, Smart Dental Group were issued with a termination notice for failing to deliver the required level of NHS service in relation to contracts held for a number of practices across Merseyside and beyond.

The practices included Picton Dental Practice in Liverpool, Poulton Dental Practice in Wallasey, Sefton Dental Practice in Bootle, Warren Drive Dental Practice in Wallasey and Chester Dental on Volunteer Street, Chester. The provider - Smart Dental - challenged the termination decision, but health bosses said further attempts at a local resolution did not result in a solution being found.

The situation was referred to the NHS Primary Care Appeals organisation. The outcome of that process is now complete and has resulted in the decision for all five dental contracts to be terminated with immediate effect. This means that the five listed practices will no longer be able to provide NHS dental care to any patients.

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One person who contacted the ECHO about the situation said: "There was no warning for this and has come into force immediately! This will concern thousands of patients who are currently already under treatment. The NHS have suggested that dentists go private but many of the practices are in areas which rely on having dental treatment paid for. This includes children."

Smart Dental has made clear that its practices will remain open, but currently aren't able to accommodate NHS patients. They said they will still aim to offer NHS priced-treatments to those who normally pay for their NHS dentistry.

Smart Dental managing director Suken Shah criticised the NHS for its decision, which he said will impact tens of thousands of people across Merseyside and Cheshire.

He told the ECHO that problems had emerged for the company after the pandemic in terms of the availability of dentists to carry out NHS work. He said the company then recruited new staff from abroad but post-Brexit issues meant it took a very long time for them to be registered and able to work in the UK.

He said: "The decision to stop NHS treatments with no notice has disadvantaged thousands of patients who have booked appointments despite many patients being in mid-treatment in some of the most deprived areas in Merseyside and Cheshire who are now facing no alternative to the service that was being offered. Particularly in Sefton, there are no practices in the area taking routinely new NHS patients.#

"The irony is that our practices have a full complement of NHS clinicians available at all of the locations affected but the NHS seem determined to terminate contracts for procedural or dogmatic reasons rather than to put the interests of the patients first and foremost in their decision making.

"Our practices that are affected have put in place an alternative Independent dental scheme to offer dentistry at prices similar to NHS dental charges to support patients who can not afford private alternatives."

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s dental team have said they are now working closely with the provider to ensure that any ongoing NHS treatment is completed in a timely manner, via an alternative local provider. The notice added that the "team are continuing to work on a solution for affected patients, and we will keep you updated on this situation as it progresses."

Patients requiring urgent dental treatment are advised to contact Cheshire and Merseyside's dental helpline on 01614769651 between 8am and 10am every day including weekends and bank holidays.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the five practices had closed down, this has been updated to make clear that they are still operating but are unable to treat NHS patients.