NHS bosses have pledged to provide cover for five thousand patients in North Yorkshire who recently lost their NHS dental cover .
On Friday, private care group Primecare pulled out of a deal to provide NHS services in the Bedale, Hawes, Leyburn and Northallerton areas after it made a loss.
The loss came as a result of the group having to employ six dentists rather than its original estimate of three.
In response, NHS bosses have announced that interim cover will be put in place to help those affected until April, when funds for new dentists will be available.
The cover will be provided by two surgeries in Catterick, one surgery in Richmond and one surgery in Northallerton.
The North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), which is now searching for a new long-term provider of dental services, said all Primecare patients will be shortly contacted by their new temporary dentist .
Jane Marshall, the PCTs director of commissioning, claimed finding a dentist in North Yorkshire "is getting better".
"From April we will be commissioning even more capacity for NHS dentistry in North Yorkshire," she commented.
"This will be new work and we have had a lot of dental providers stepping forward wanting to work with us.
"We do want to make sure that everybody who wants access to an NHS dentist has one."




