NHS dental patients at Chatsworth House Dental Clinic, in Harrogate, will be offered treatment at alternative NHS practices next month.
Chatsworth House, on King’s Road, announced in September it would stop providing NHS treatments from December 1.
The move heightened concerns about the lack of access to NHS dentistry in the Harrogate district.
It prompted Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, to seek assurances from the Integrated Care Board for Humber and North Yorkshire that local NHS provision would be expanded.
Mr Jones said today he had been told any patient on Chatsworth House’s roll in the last two years will be sent a letter by the NHS next month explaining where the new provision will be available.
Subject to the terms and conditions of their contract, any former NHS patient who has signed up for private services with Chatsworth House can apply to a new provider.
Mr Jones said:
“This is good news for NHS patients at Chatsworth House. It was important that the cash provided for NHS dental activity at Chatsworth House remained invested in Harrogate NHS dentistry. I am grateful to the ICB for ensuring this is the case.”
Mr Jones said more than 50 Chatsworth House patients had contacted him.
The ICB letter to Mr Jones said:
“We have written to eligible dental providers in Harrogate to invite them to submit an expression of interest in taking on more dental activity. This EOI went out week commencing 30 October and providers have been given two weeks in which to respond.
“Once EOIs are received, officers at the ICB will then consider all EOIs in order to allocate the dental activity. As soon as new providers are confirmed, the ICB will ensure that patients from Chatsworth House are written to, explaining where they may be able to find an alternative dentist.”
Mr Jones added he had “longer term aspirations for dentistry in our area:, adding:
“I want to see a centre of dental excellence for North Yorkshire based in Harrogate. This will train the next generation of NHS dentists and could help provide more capacity locally. I have also met two dentists locally who are looking to expand their practices and put them in touch with people in the NHS who can help with that. These discussions look very positive.
A review of NHS dentistry in August 2021 also found that there was just one NHS dentist practice per 10,000 people in the Harrogate district.
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Andrew Jones MP urges Prime Minister to ease ‘strain’ on access to Harrogate NHS dentists
Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones today urged the Prime Minister to tackle the “immediate strain” facing local people trying to access NHS dentists.
Concerns about a shortage of NHS dentists in Harrogate were heightened last week when Chatsworth House Dental Clinic, on King’s Road, said it will stop treating NHS patients at the end of the year.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions today, Mr Jones said he and fellow North Yorkshire MPs met with the local integrated care board last week to discuss ways of improving dentistry provision. He added:
“But when surgeries suddenly close to NHS patients without notice as one in Harrogate did very recently, an immediate strain is put on local provision.
“Will the Prime Minister look at what can be done in these circumstances to ensure that no one is left without access to an NHS dentist?”
Mr Sunak pledged to “look into this issue” and said Mr Jones would be “reassured” to know the government was investing £3 billion a year into dentistry. He added there were no geographical restrictions on which dentists people could attend.
‘Sitting on the sidelines’
Tom Gordon with Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson.
The man who hopes to succeed Mr Jones as Harrogate and Knaresborough MP at the next election accused his rival of “sitting on the sidelines” over dentistry.
Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, said he was “pleased that after 13 years Andrew Jones has finally bowed to pressure and asked a question in Parliament about the dentist crisis affecting local residents”, adding:
“In the last six months, the Lib Dems have been increasing the pressure on him to do this. We have set up a dentists survey, arranged a meeting with the Lib Dem shadow health minister and made sure that questions were asked in Parliament about this issue.
“We’ve heard awful stories about how local people have been putting up with pain as they can’t afford to see a dentist. It shouldn’t have required a concerted campaign to make our MP act.”
“We’re determined to keep on fighting for the cash that will re-establish NHS dentistry in our area. We hope Andrew Jones will join us in this fight rather than sitting on the sidelines as he has done over this and many other issues for the last 13 years.”
Following his meeting with Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board last week, Mr Jones said:
“Dental services have been recovering but there is much more progress to be made.
“It is important that action is taken swiftly to expand the NHS dental provision in our area.”
Read more:
- Station Gateway: Andrew Jones calls for funding to be switched to ‘other projects’
- Local politicians raise concern over lack of Harrogate and Knaresborough NHS dentistry
- Harrogate NHS dentist to move to ‘membership only’ patient scheme