Hexham Dental Clinic

Thank you for sharing your feedback and concerns with us. I sincerely apologise for the distress and disappointment of not been able to get onto one of our plans. We understand how upsetting the situation must have been, especially given your long-term loyalty to our practice. We made every effort to include all existing patients on our mailing list and inform them about the transition to our new membership plans. We sent out communications to ensure that every NHS patient had a fair opportunity to join the new plan, with a clear indication that membership would be on a first-come, first-served basis. I understand that you did indeed receive your letters but had not yet returned them indicating your wish to join our plan. No patients were automatically enrolled to our plan, as to do so would have required their consent and bank details.

We did not anticipate the overwhelming demand and the speed at which patients signed up. Regrettably, our plans reached full capacity within two weeks, which, as we understand from our plan administrator, is unusually quick compared to similar setups.

We genuinely do not wish to lose loyal patients like yourself, and we want you to know that your long-term loyalty to our practice is highly valued. We are actively exploring ways to increase our capacity to meet the unprecedented demand.

Although we cannot offer you routine care at the moment, we do not wish for any of our loyal patients to feel that they won’t be cared for if they have a dental emergency. So, for the time being, if you find yourself in need of emergency dental care, we would encourage you to reach out to us, and we will do our best to help.

Once again, I apologise for the distress caused and thank you for your understanding during this challenging transition.

Yours sincerely,

Dr J Sykes,
Owner/ Director, HDC.

Dear Mrs Spottiswood,

Thank you for sharing your feedback and concerns with us.
Firstly, I want to acknowledge the frustration and disappointment you feel about our decision to move away from providing NHS services. This decision was not made lightly. It was driven by the significant challenges within the NHS dental system, making it increasingly difficult for us to deliver the high-quality care our patients deserve. The Government’s own Health and Social Care Committee has referred to the NHS dental contract as “unfit for purpose,” a sentiment echoed by the independent think tank, the Nuffield Trust, in their review of NHS dental services. Despite our best efforts, the constraints imposed by the current NHS framework have become unsustainable for our clinic. As you may have seen in the news over many months, this is not just our opinion, but many dental clinics in the UK have also found the NHS contract unworkable, and to that end, BUPA was forced to completely close 85 of their NHS clinics last year.
We made every effort to include all existing patients on our mailing list and inform them about the transition to our new membership plans. We sent out communications to ensure that every NHS patient had a fair opportunity to join the new plan, with a clear indication that membership would be on a first-come, first-served basis. I understand that you did indeed receive your letters but had not yet returned them indicating your wish to join our plan. No patients were automatically enrolled to our plan, as to do so would have required their consent and bank details.

We did not anticipate the overwhelming demand and the speed at which patients signed up. Regrettably, our plans reached full capacity within two weeks, which, as we understand from our plan administrator, is unusually quick compared to similar setups.

We genuinely do not wish to lose loyal patients like yourself, and we want you to know that your long-term loyalty to our practice is highly valued. We are actively exploring ways to increase our capacity to meet the unprecedented demand. For this reason, we have a waiting list of patients wanting to join us for routine care on a plan. I have ensured that your name has been added to that waiting list, active from the time you first contacted us about the above matter. If you do not wish to be on the waiting list, I would be grateful if you could please let us know.

Although we cannot offer you routine care at the moment, we do not wish for any of our loyal patients to feel that they won’t be cared for if they have a dental emergency. So, for the time being, if you find yourself in need of emergency dental care, we would encourage you to reach out to us, and we will do our best to help.

Once again, I apologise for the distress caused and thank you for your understanding during this challenging transition.

Yours sincerely,

Dr J Sykes,
Owner/ Director, HDC.