The Falsgrave & Alma dental practices are going private from September.
In a letter to patients the dental practice says it will only be offering private treatment from September meaning existing NHS patients will either need to pay for a private dental plan or find an alternative NHS provider.
The dental practice says the change is a result of it being unable to recruit NHS dentists, in it's letter to patients the practice says:
"You should always have access to the highest standard of dental care. This is something we feel very passionately about at Falsgrave Dental Surgery.
To ensure I can continue to provide my patients with the time and care they deserve. have decided to step away from providing NHS dentistry from 1st September 2024 and will instead be offering private dentistry only.
We want to make you aware that such a decision was not taken lightly by us and was in fact a very difficult one. However, we kept our patients' interest in mind first and foremost.
We have lost five of our NHS dentists in the last two years and regrettably we have been unsuccessful in recruiting for replacements. As a result. we no longer have the capacity to provide NHS dental care by us both.
We will of course aim to complete any courses of NHS treatment we have already started.
Moving forward we will be offering Denplan payment plans to help you budget for your dental care and offer you savings on our private fees. Please aware that places are limited and are on first come first serve basis."
The practice is offering patients a £240 per year plan that includes checkups but which doesn't cover the cost of any further treatment required.
In a post on social media Scarborough Councillor Rich Maw expressed his concern over the decision saying:
"This letter, sent on election day but arriving just now from Falsgrave & Alma sums up the decline in NHS dentistry over the last fourteen years.
This is devastating news to Scarborough residents who already struggle to find an NHS dentist. Surgeries are oversubscribed and the current NHS dental contract is not fit for purpose.
But the timing is suspicious in my view. The new Labour government pledges to address the contract and introduce hundreds of thousands of new, NHS appointments.
So why ditch it now?"
Patients affected by the change are being advised to check for alternative NHS provision at https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
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