Bristol patient launches petition to save Bupa dental practice
A dental patient from Bristol has launched a petition to try to save a Bupa Dental Care practice, which is due to close in June.
Nicola Strange has been a patient at the practice in St Pauls for twenty years. When she heard that Bupa Dental Care was planning to shut the practice, she decided to try to persuade the company to think again. She has now set up a petition and written to her local MP and the Health Secretary in a bid to prevent the surgery from closing.
The move is part of a national plan to scale down, which will affect more than 80 practices. Bupa Dental Care plans to close, merge or sell 85 practices by the end of the year. The majority of the clinics will shut at the end of June. The company stated that recruitment issues had meant that there was no option but to close some of the practices.
Nicola explained that she was taking action on behalf of others. She can afford to go private if necessary but the majority of people who will be left without a dentist don’t have the funds to pay for private dentistry. Closing clinics will leave people in the city without access to NHS dentistry. She added that there used to be four NHS dentists at the St Pauls practice but there was now just one. It was a discussion with her dentist that prompted her to set up the petition and write to MPs to try to improve the situation.
Nicola said that she had been invited to sign up for a private dental plan at a cost of £30 per month, which covers two check-ups per year. This means that the cost of a check-up will rise from around £25 on the NHS to £180 for patients who cannot find another NHS dentist and have to pay to see a private dentist.
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