Call Centre to open on Wednesday for new Cheltenham Dental Practice

03/07/2007

Gloucestershire PCT today announced that the call centre for expressing an interest in receiving assessment and treatment at the new dental practice in High Street, Cheltenham will open at 9AM on Wednesday 4 July 2007.

Patients who wish to express an interest will need to contact ADP Dental on 0845 869 3024 from this date. Patients are asked not to visit the practice at this time (it is not yet open). It is not possible to express an interest by post or by contacting other NHS telephone numbers.

The Call Centre telephone lines are electronic and open 24 hours a day. Callers are asked to leave their details.

They will be sent a form to complete and once this is returned, contact will be made to arrange first appointments.

Local people are asked to be patient as the PCT anticipates that there will be high levels of interest.

In June, Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust announced that two new dental practices in High Street, Cheltenham and High Street, Tewkesbury were on course to open this year providing capacity for around 9,600 NHS patients at each location when fully up and running.

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

When they are open the two practices will offer routine NHS dental care.

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

“We do expect there to be high demand, but we are hopeful that we will be in a position to announce further good news for the area later this year. We know that there is still much work to be done to improve access 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.”

It is hoped that the Cheltenham Practice will open its doors in mid July.

The Tewkesbury Practice will open in September, subject to planning permission.

Patients will not be able to express an interest in receiving assessment and treatment with this Practice in July. Details on how to express an interest with the Tewkesbury Practice will be published later in the Summer. Patients are asked not to contact the NHS about expressing an interest or visit the Tewkesbury Practice at this time.

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.