Thousands Of Patients Join New Isle Of Wight NHS Dental Practice Register

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Thousands of patients have rushed to join the register of a new NHS dental practice on the Isle of Wight.

Within just a couple of days of opening, over four thousand patients had registered at the East Cowes Dental Walk-in Centre, which is located in Church Path and already patients will have to wait 3 months.

Currently, there is only one dentist working at the practice, but two part-time dentists are due to join the surgery in the autumn; however, with the demand for appointments so high, practice manager, Cathy Easom, revealed that a full-time dentist is needed urgently.

Ms Easom said that there was a massive influx of patients as soon as the practice opened, but it is difficult trying to employ a full-time dentist, as no dentist who do not have a job on the island and recruiting one to move to the island is a hard task. She added that the practice is coping well, but there is a waiting list for treatment, with bookings being taken for appointments towards the end of the year. She said that patients are happy to wait, as long as they are on a register.

The practice opening was carried out by Dr Barry Cockcroft, chief dental officer in England, at the beginning of August. It has a contract with the NHS for five thousand dental patients and will carry on accepting new patients until the quota has been reached. The new dentists are due to join the team in soon.

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