Dentist told to cancel appointments

Banana1983782

Hi

I spoke with my Dental practice today as they recently wrote to me to cancel my appointment. They told me that NHS England have advised them to cancel all routine appointments for the next few months. They will only accept emergencies. 

They were unable to advise me when I might expect to get an NHS appointment but that I could pay £101 for a
private appointment, on Monday…

With just one catch… If I purchase a private appointment I will lose my NHS registration and ALL future dental treatments will be private. It’s not known if I could return to NHS due to the ongoing challenges.

I get it - the NHS dental situation is dire in some locations - but I don’t think it’s fair to lose my NHS “place” by opting for a one-off private appointment.

I can’t really afford the private appointment but I will pay it as I had various dental problems last year and I am keen to keep things under control.

Am I being unreasonable to expect to keep my place on NHS??

HampshireH

The shouldn't deregister you for opting additional treatments done under their private practice 

Personally I'd put a complaint in about being cancelled and forced to go private 

Keep_pedalling

Why would the NHS advise a dentist to cancel routine appointments? I can’t find anything about this anywhere else. It sounds to me more like the dentists is trying to push more patients on to their private list. 

Banana1983782

Keep_pedalling said:

Why would the NHS advise a dentist to cancel routine appointments? I can’t find anything about this anywhere else. It sounds to me more like the dentists is trying to push more patients on to their private list. 

Me either, but that’s what I’ve been told. 

elsien

Banana1983782 said:

Hi

I spoke with my Dental practice today as they recently wrote to me to cancel my appointment. They told me that NHS England have advised them to cancel all routine appointments for the next few months. They will only accept emergencies. 

They were unable to advise me when I might expect to get an NHS appointment but that I could pay £101 for a
private appointment, on Monday…

With just one catch… If I purchase a private appointment I will lose my NHS registration and ALL future dental treatments will be private. It’s not known if I could return to NHS due to the ongoing challenges.

I get it - the NHS dental situation is dire in some locations - but I don’t think it’s fair to lose my NHS “place” by opting for a one-off private appointment.

I can’t really afford the private appointment but I will pay it as I had various dental problems last year and I am keen to keep things under control.

Am I being unreasonable to expect to keep my place on NHS??

it doesn't matter whether we think you are being unreasonable or not. What matters is the NHS contract and how dentists are meant to operate it. @Toothsmith or @brook2jack might be able to advise

Voyager2002

Banana1983782 said:

With just one catch… If I purchase a private appointment I will lose my NHS registration and ALL future dental treatments will be private. It’s not known if I could return to NHS due to the ongoing challenges.

I get it - the NHS dental situation is dire in some locations - but I don’t think it’s fair to lose my NHS “place” by opting for a one-off private appointment.

I can’t really afford the private appointment but I will pay it as I had various dental problems last year and I am keen to keep things under control.

Am I being unreasonable to expect to keep my place on NHS??

I suggest you pay for a private appointment with a different dentist, and so retain your access to NHS treatment.

NB my experience with some rather serious dental issues has been that the total cost of travelling to Poland for treatment has been significantly lower than paying for private dental treatment in England.

elsien

Also to add I’ve just remembered that I had private  and Nhs treatment both at the same dental surgery. Root canal done by a private dentist because it had higher success right, and all other treatment and the crown for the root canal done on the Nhs. 

brook2jack2

Dental practices that do NHS work have a set amount to do each year . The year stretches from March 31st . This is presuming you are in England or Wales. 

In general they cannot ask for more UDAs (units of dental activity) because budgets are capped. If they do more work than contracted for they are financially penalised , the practice has to pay for treating people ! If they do less work the money is clawed back and used elsewhere to prop up the rest of the NHS. 

The problems occur at this time of year when the UDAs they are allocated start to run out. They have two choices , do the work and then run out and not do any NHS work until April or stop seeing routine patients and save what’s left of the UDAs to see emergency patients only. 

The NHS monitors how much of the contract is left and want space for emergencys left , hence the practice is told to cancel all routine appointments . 

The situation is much worse this year because the NHS “increased” the paltry payments for some treatments and “gave “ a new patient premium. However there was no more money given for these payments , they came out of existing contract values , so practices are running out of funding much quicker this year. 

The problems get worse as the years go by as the UDA problem gets worse and worse and practices have to stop routine treatment earlier because demand builds up and the NHS will not increase a practice contract. 

The practice then has to work out what to do with its regular patients because most dental contracts now include clauses to prioritise new patients who haven’t been in for years or those who have urgent toothache. The NHS pressurises for check ups every two years to increase access. 

There is no registration for NHS dental practices in England or Wales. So , unless you are currently under a course of NHS treatment , you have no rights to be seen at all at a NHS practice. Indeed some practices in the south west have had to stop seeing all routine patients and just see toothaches because that is the local NHS priority. 

The long and the short is in this situation you wait until after April 1st and hope you can get a routine check , not guaranteed and you will have the same problems this time next year or possibly earlier,  or you accept that to have check ups when you want and treatment when you want you go private or try to find a practice with capacity to take on NHS patients. 

Here is a couple of reports where this has happened https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-67866257#:~:text=Thousands%20of%20people%20could%20struggle,shortage%20of%20other%20NHS%20practices.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czq5yjl7zn1o