Dental Care - essential

BadSeed

Can my local NHS Dentist - of 20+ years treating me - force me to change from NHS treatment to, for them, more lucrative Private treatment. Both my wife and I were given no choice on this. This has made us both very suspicious. We're retired now and watch our spending carefully, and even more so with current cost of living Hikes.
Is it Market forces taking control?
Are we supposed to haggle and barter over charges now?
Bottom line - it was very sneaky. We've never missed appointments. It was a take it or LEAVE IT. Should we move dentists?
Advice? 

Emmia

Have they swiched from seeing NHS patients to private only?  Or is this related to specific treatments?

lisyloo

They cannot force you to change, but they can certainly decide to no longer work for the NHS.
There is no obligation on them to offer NHS and hence offer you a choice.
When you say sneaky what do you mean?
Did they give you treatment/appointments without telling you the cost? and just gave you a private bill?
You would not be obliged to pay a private bill if you hadn't agreed to or signed up for services with them privately.

you are free to try to find another NHS dentist.
We have no idea what it's like in your area. You may struggle to find one at all.
That's the reality I'm afraid.

I would be very surprised if they are operating a private practice without getting people to "sign up"  so you need to clarify what you mean by "very sneaky".
But yes if they are genuinely dishonest then find another one.

welshdent

They cant force you. But then you cant force them to see you as an NHS patient. Why do you assume the private is more lucrative?? Maybe its just they want an easier work life with less of the ridiculous restrictions and meddling imposed by the NHS contract?  Less stresses about hitting targets and risking claw back based on metrics that in no way measure volume or quality of work done?

I appreciate you see it as them trying to pull a fast one. But thats just your perception as an occasional visitor to a dental surgery albeit over a long time frame. What you do not see is the day to day struggles just to keep that service going. The average general dentist doing average general dentistry "earns" a comparable amount regardless of the funding model. Granted those doing additional services such as implants or cosmetic work will do better but not all dentists do that.