to expect NHS dental treatment

[ginghamstarfish]

Moved to this area (in Scotland) 5 years ago, registered at Medical Centre, I also asked to register at dentist (within Med Centre). They said it was full. I said ok, can I go on the waiting list? There is no waiting list they replied. Surely people must leave sometimes? No list. Gave me info on other NHS dentists, and the nearest one with vacancies was 40 miles round trip. Went there for a couple of years, then managed to move to one a bit nearer, 25 miles round trip. At least twice a year I ask at my local one if they are taking new patients, and get the same answer - full, no waiting list. Asked the practice manager - says not his responsibility. Mentioned to my GP, he said he wasn't aware that people couldn't register, and his family are all registered there (they live 25 miles away). This leads me to suspect registrations are only open to staff, family and their friends etc.
I am disabled, and have a medical condition that requires dental checkups every 6 months without fail. As I am fed up with travelling so far (by taxi) to the dentist, I looked into this a bit further. Have called local Health Board etc but waiting for someone to get back to me. The local practice website links to their 'PDS (Public Dental Services) Remit' - this states they take 'vulnerable groups' - young offenders, migrants, homeless, disabled'. As I am in one of those groups AND local - about 1 mile away - shouldn't I expect to be registered at my local practice, or failing that, be on the waiting list for the next vacancy? Anyone had similar experience?

Sorry to hear you're having such an impossible time of it. I don't know what the situation is in Scotland but I'm registered with my local NHS dentist here in (rural) England; every single one of my check-up appts in the last three or four years has been cancelled at the last minute and rearranged, usually for two months on. The latest cancellation, I was told to 'call back in three months' to see when the next date would be, as they had lost yet another dentist and were struggling to find a replacement. I've now given up and registered with a private practice.

All the dentists in this small country town practice are/were EU nationals, bar one older British dentist who's about to retire. Go figure.

Yanbu

I live in a remote area in Scotland too and have been on a local waiting list for 3 years. The other nearest dentist is miles away and I don't drive so no way of getting there.

My dd is registered at a local hospital. They only take one children as its more of a charitable thing.

Its disgraceful and we are not alone. I have had to have several teeth removed due to not getting treatment and having a long term health condition that is affecting my teeth and gums...and have no dentist to have them replaced...and I'm only in my early 30s.

I was an nhs patient with a practise for several years, all fine. It then got taken over by a new owner who not only didn't take new nhs patients but he constantly tried to trick me into paying private prices rather than nhs prices even though i was registered as an nhs patient. Once i booked an appointment and arranged to have a filling replaced and spoke about the standard nhs charge I'd be paying with the receptionist on the phone. Turned up and he said "Oh i don't have time to see you now but you need to have this done which costs X" (Not the nhs standard charge.) He did the same to others as i could see from reviews and from someone i knew who went there who had a procedure done and expected to pay nhs charge as he was an nhs patient but was charged private price instead. Luckily i live in a built up area with other options so i moved to someone who actually treats me as an nhs patient paying standard nhs charges.

I live in rural Scotland and my local dentist is full. I have to travel an hour each way to go to the dentist, it's a pain. I wonder if we are in the same place!

It's not just rural Scotland- we live in North Lincs and haven't had an nhs dentist in the 14 yrs we have lived here other than a brief 2 yrs when a new practice opened and who then went private as soon as he could. Even our 3 children are private and we pay for their checkups - eldest dd got a brace on nhs but that was a 2 hour round trip in the car for each appointment.

Seems to be a countrywide problem as there aren’t enough NHS dentists.

Sorry to hear that others are also having problems. I do understand that a practice can be full, but it's the fact that there is no waiting list that gets me ... Yes it is shocking that we don't have access to NHS dentist everywhere, especially in rural areas. Anyhow, finally had a call back - apparently I have to ask my current dentist to refer me to my local practice,, and they will assess this. No guarantee but worth a try. Did not know this and wish the local practice had told me in the beginning! Maybe worth a try for others in a similar situation - as I said I am disabled, may be similar for the elderly too as well as the group's mentioned in my OP. Will update if I get a result - going to ask for referral tomorrow.

Seems a bit odd that they don't have a waiting list. We are in England an our dentist went from NHS to private many years ago - although they would still see children of registered private patients on the NHS. A new dentist took over the practice and they started to see NHS patients again. DH foind this out and asked to switch to NHS. He was told there were no vacancies but they would put him on a waiting list. It took 12 months but eventually he was told by the dentist that he had now got an NHS place. Next time I went along to be seen, I was also told I had an NHS place - even though I had never asked for one. I took the place, as I don't work so don't have vast sums to spend on dental treatment. But it seems that our whole family was transferred to NHS (including now adult DS) I think we now have the best of both worlds because we can still have a better treatment and pay privately if it is not available on the NHS (and our dentist does seem to be honest and have morals so I would trust her and her DH).

You are not being unreasonable. You should be able to have convenient access an NHS dentist. I didn’t realise there were areas where availability was quite that bad.

In my area (NE England, city suburb) there are several dental practices within a couple of miles accepting new NHS patients. As a new patient a few months ago I was able to book an examination for the next day, and then return for a fracture repair and scale and polish within a week. It’s a big practice with a ‘no frills’ approach and a reasonable turnover of dentists, but they get the necessary work done efficiently. Probably a lot more of these types of practices are necessary around the country.