A DAD of three from Basingstoke has hit out at a Basingstoke dentist who "booted" his daughter out of her NHS cover.
Mark Banks moved to the area in 2002 and signed his family including his wife and three kids to dentists and doctors including Gillies Dental Centre run by {my}dentist and had check-ups and treatments as normal over the years.
Since then many residents have said they are unable to get any appointments but Mark has said that the other issue is they are booting those who already have NHS cover.
READ MORE: Residents facing enormous difficulty accessing an NHS dentist
He has told the Gazette that over the last couple of years he and his family have found it difficult to get an appointment and has been faced with "various excuses" as to why they were not able to get regular check-ups.
He added: "Earlier in December we received a letter addressed to our eldest daughter who is away at university but she is registered with the dentist here because here is our home. It said that we don't have NHS facilities here now so would you like to join our private health scheme.
"This does not feel fair and it would appear that someone has taken over that practice and does not take on new NHS patients which is probably common among lots of dentists but I don't actually see how they can just boot people out and encourage someone who does not have an income and ask them if they would like to go private. Without knowing anything about my daughter they just want to withdraw NHS cover and it does not feel fair."
When the Gazette called the practice we were told it has reached "full NHS capacity" and the practice is unable to take on new patients.
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Mark said: "I am slightly concerned as we have two other kids who are covered so we are half expecting further letters kicking them out as well. It simply does not feel professionally right that someone can buy a practice and over a period just withdraw the NHS cover and it does not feel like they should be able to do that.
"There are almost two issues, one not being able to get an NHS dentist but then we have got one essentially being booted out. I feel very frustrated and have a great sense of 'this is not right'."
A spokesperson for Gillies Dental Centre said: “There is currently an acute shortage of NHS dentists across the UK and, since the pandemic, more than 3,000 clinicians have given up practising altogether. This, combined with the unprecedented demand for dental care, has been experienced at our practices in Basingstoke. We are doing everything we can to recruit more dentists to join the team and offer affordable private treatments to ensure as many patients as possible can get access to the care they need.”
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