Oxford Dental Practice Ends Two-Year Wait To Take On NHS Patients

Thu, 22 Jan 2009

A dental practice in Oxford has finally opened for business after a waiting nearly two years to receive necessary funding.

The Eurodental Practice had been closed for business since moving to Oxford in early 2007 following a decision by the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to plough funding into existing NHS dentists instead of new practices in the area.

But the PCT informed the dental clinic last month that it would finally be allocated money to treat patients and help boost access to NHS dentistry .

There are currently 80 NHS dental clinics in Oxfordshire, but only 24 of them have the capacity to take on new patients.

The surgery, which opened on Monday, has two qualified dentists available to provide care to around 10,000 new NHS patients a year between them.

Practice manager Barbara Pearsey said despite the lengthy wait for funding to start treating patients, staff at the practice had nothing but praise for the Oxfordshire PCT .

She commented: "They have been absolutely brilliant. They must have recognised there was a real need for us in the Headington area."

"We deal with PCTs in other areas because of our other practices, but in Oxfordshire they are definitely for the people."

Nicky Wadely, service development manager for Oxfordshire PCT, said the Trust had been working to commission additional services from practices as part of plans to improve access to NHS dentistry in the area.

She added: "We have widely publicised the NHS Choices website nhs.uk, which has information about NHS dentists in Oxfordshire, and the PCT dental helpline number 01865 337267 on which patients can contact us if they need further help looking for an NHS dentist ."
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