Cheltenham Dental Centre to open on Monday

14/08/2007

Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust has today announced that the new dental practice in High Street, Cheltenham will open on Monday, 20 August.

When fully up and running the centre will provide capacity for around 9,600 NHS patients.

The premises were secured by the PCT’s business partner for the project, ADP Dental and the brand new facility will house 4 dental chairs, staffed by four full time dentists. The practice will offer routine NHS dental care.

So far around 6,000 patients have expressed an interest in receiving assessment and treatment at the new centre.

Due to the large number of expressions of interest received to date, members of the public are asked to be patient in awaiting written confirmation from ADP Dental. People can e-mail: enquiries@glos.nhs.uk if they have any further queries about this.

If people still wish to express an interest they are asked to contact ADP Dental on 0845 869 3024. It is not possible to express an interest by visiting the practice, by post or by contacting other NHS telephone numbers.

Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Commissioning at Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, Simon Hairsnape said:

“This is another important development and builds on the successful opening of similar practices in other parts of Gloucestershire over recent years. We know from public feedback that improving access to Dentistry is very high on the public’s priority list and the opening of the Practice will represent a significant step forward in responding to the health needs of local people.”

“Although this development means that we will be able to significantly increase the availability of NHS dentistry in the Cheltenham area, we are not complacent as we know that there is still much work to be done to improve access still further.”

“We will be investing significant funds this year to increase NHS provision across Gloucestershire. Discussions are continuing with a number of existing practices to expand their work with the NHS.”

Plans for the premises have been reviewed by the PCT and a representative from the Patients Forum to ensure that they provide good access for all patient groups.

Planning permission has now been granted for the new Tewkesbury Dental Practice and this is scheduled to open in late September. Details on how to express an interest in receiving assessment and treatment at this centre will be published soon.