With talk of a crisis looming in the UK's dental industry and with Wiltshire among the worst hit areas, how hard is it to find an NHS place? We asked our reporter Charley Morgan, right, who is new to the area, to investigate by posing as a patient in search of a dentist...

FINDING an NHS dentist in Wiltshire who will take on new patients is like finding a needle in a haystack, and recent reforms to how dentists are paid means they are even harder to find than before.

After calling almost all the dental practices in west Wiltshire and many in north Wiltshire I could only find three practices taking on new patients, in Trowbridge, Melksham and Bradford on Avon. A receptionist at one practice told me: "It's been a nightmare here for a few years the closest NHS dentist you'll find will probably be in Bristol, Salisbury or Swindon."

The Government released figures last week revealing around 2,000 dentists have walked away from the NHS, meaning a million people in the UK lost their dentist in the shake-up. But during my investigation, a spokesman for the Kennet and North Wiltshire and West Wiltshire Primary Care Trusts, insisted the majority of practices still offered NHS treatment.

But the problem is not finding an NHS practice it is finding one that is not full and willing to take on new patients. I spoke to many practices who said they were either full or only taking on children of existing NHS patients. A receptionist at Hanlon, Cox and Gardner, in Pickwick Road, Corsham, said: "Our NHS list is totally full so we are only taking on children of our existing patients we have found that that is the fairest way we can do things."

Some dental practices have found that after negotiations with the primary care trust they have had to reduce the size of their practices.

Dr Michael Frain's practice in Spa Road, Melksham, has had to de-register around 1,000 patients, as they only got funding for two dentists not the three they already had.

Elaine Barnard, practice manager, said: "We did not want to do it to our patients because some of them have been here for about 15 years since the practice started. "We get calls every day asking us about NHS dentist places, but we have to turn them all away."

The Dental Surgery in Timbrell Street, Trowbridge, is mainly private but used to treat some children on the NHS. Their receptionist told me: "After negotiating with the PCT we lost our contract for treating children because we got no additional funding from them."

In Kennet and North Wiltshire there are 26 practices with NHS contracts plus one orthodontic practice but five of these are providing services to children only. In west Wiltshire there are 19 practices with NHS contracts.

After unsuccessfully calling in excess of 35 dental surgeries to try and register as a new NHS patient, I was told to contact the Wiltshire Dental Helpline, which would tell me all the NHS dentists in my area actively taking on new patients.

When I finally got through I was given a list of nine NHS dental practices that were supposedly taking on new patients but when I called them, only three actually were. The Health Centre in Bradford on Avon is in the process of setting up its dental practice after doctors at the medical practice rescued it from closure when two of the dentists retired and another left.

The Market Place Dental Practice in Melksham is taking on new patients but said they would probably have to close their books by the end of the week as they were filling up fast. Adcroft Dental Practice in Trowbridge is taking on new patients but it is on a first come, first served basis and the earliest I could book an appointment would be in a month's time.

Under the new rules introduced in April, charges to NHS patients for specific treatments have been replaced by banded payments:

  • Band 1 costs £15.50 and counts for one unit of treatment such as a check-up or treatment plan.
  • Band 2 costs £42.40 and counts as three units for a filling or extraction.
  • Band 3 is £189 and pays for a course of treatment and the provision of appliances.
  • Anyone needing an NHS dentist should call the Wiltshire Dental Helpline on 08457 581926, or for emergency dental treatment call (01249) 456530.

The PCT also has a patient advice and liaison office which is available on 0800 389 7671.