Attleborough dentist goes private ‘for own survival’

An Attleborough dentist has announced it will go fully private from December, due to “a chronic lack of investment in NHS dentistry by successive governments”.

Church Street Dental Practice released a statement on its website saying the decision had been made due to rapidly rising costs and losing two dentists in the last two years and being unable to replace them.

The statement said: “We feel we cannot deliver the high standards of care you have come to expect and remain a viable business.

“Like many NHS practices across the UK, we are having to make some difficult decisions to ensure our practice survives and is here to provide your dental care in the long term.”

The practice will be introducing a patient membership plan, which will come into effect after the last NHS patients are seen on November 30.

This follows the news last month of Manor House Dental Surgery in Long Stratton closing, with debts of almost £1 million.

Documents at Companies House showed the surgery owed £444,245 to the NHS and £537,410 to Simply Smile UK, which runs several dental surgeries in the region.