Patients are removed from dental practice amid lockdown mix-up
NHS dental patients in Hull say they are being de-registered from their practice due to not attending check-up appointments that weren’t on offer during the pandemic and that a waiting list to get back on is up to five years long.
Disgruntled patients at mydentist on Newland Avenue claim that upon trying to book a post-covid restrictions check-up they were advised that they had been struck off the patient register, with no notice, because they hadn’t been to the dentist in 18 months to two years.
They say they were then told that if they would like to re-join the practice as an NHS patient, they could be waiting up to five years to be accepted.
They claim that during the pandemic, like many dental surgeries across the country, standard check-ups weren’t being carried out, and they were told to only book in an emergency.
However, these emergency appointments apparently “didn’t count” towards proving attendance, as one mum learned.
Wendy Middleton and her five-yearold son were two NHS dental patients who were removed from the books.
However, Wendy had actually attended the mydentist Newland Avenue practice for an emergency appointment in November 2020 and she called to schedule a check-up appointment in August 2021.
She said: “I was told that I hadn’t booked an appointment in two years, however, I had called for an emergency appointment in November 2020 and attended the appointment.
“We then had long lockdowns, so I only called to book check ups for my then five-year-old son and myself in the August of 2021.
“I was told that both of us were no longer on the register, as we had not attended the practice in the past two years. I explained that I had attended just nine months prior. The receptionist said that it was an emergency appointment so it didn’t count.
“The practice sent no emails, calls, or texts to arrange any check ups, so we had no warning about this.
“I only managed to find a new dental practice by phoning over 30 dentists.
“I put my son and I on all the practices that would allow us to go on the waiting list. Bransholme centre said we were about 700th on the waiting list.
“Luckily, an amazing dental practice in Market Weighton allowed us to become NHS patients and we had our first appointments with them in January this year.
“We have to travel 30 minutes from Hull to get there, but at least we have a dentist that makes us feel welcome.
“We are NHS patients and most of the dentists said we could get in privately, but would have to wait for NHS places. Even the my dentist on Newland Avenue that had initially deregistered us said there were spaces for private patients.”
Another Hull resident faced the same issues with the dental practice on Newland Avenue.
As a result of the pandemic, the man says he and his family were advised to only make appointments in an emergency, but say they were not informed when regular check-ups were being scheduled again.
He said: “We’ve been with them (mydentist on Newland Avenue) for years. We only stopped going because they sent us repeated messages saying they were only taking emergency appointments.
“We had no idea you could be struck off for non attendance. They gave us no warning.
“If we’d had a single message saying you’ll be struck off if you don’t book soon, we’d have booked immediately.
“We get texts galore when we’ve got an appointment reminding us not to miss it because every missed appointment costs them dearly, so they’ve clearly got the capability to mass text.”
Luckily, he was able to find another dentist that was taking on NHS patients.
However, many others that engaged in a Facebook discussion about the issue claim they have been put on NHS waiting lists that are five years long.
After hearing all of the claims, a spokesperson for mydentist said: “Like many dental providers across the country, we have struggled to recruit NHS dentists over recent years and this has become much more challenging since the pandemic. While our team at the practice at Newland Avenue are working hard to see as many patients as possible, we have needed to prioritise emergency dental care over some routine appointments.
“We apologise to those patients impacted. We continue to recruit for new dentists.”