A Scottish dental practice has been forced to reduce its capacity as a result of “the current crisis within the NHS and no foreseeable solution.”
The Dalgety Bay Dental Practice has been owned and operated by Sergey Grihanov and his wife for 10 years. Approximately 5,000 patients are on its NHS list. However, Sergey has made the difficult decision to reduce its capacity due to financial concerns.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the practice said, “Due to the current crisis within the NHS and no foreseeable solution, it is with regret we are no longer registering new NHS patients and to ensure the survival of our practice we are also reducing our NHS lists.
“All children under the age of 18 years will still be seen under the NHS.
“We are aware that many patients have NHS examinations booked in the up-coming months, please be aware all NHS appointments will be honoured. All future plans in regards to your treatment will be discussed with you at your next appointment and options given.”
The practice added, “This was not an easy decision and took a lot of consideration over the past few years. Our patients care is always of the utmost priority and we appreciate your on-going support.”
Following the announcement, Sergey spoke to STV News about the decision. He said, “We’ve always been NHS. I believed in NHS but every year for the last five years has become worse and worse, and every year we were getting promises from health boards about improvements but nothing happens.
“Now we’re in the position of working almost for free after paying all the laboratory bills and expenses. We only just managed to survive the last couple of years by doing our private work.”
In July 2023, the Scottish government announced additional funding will be provided for NHS dental teams. The additional £10 million has been promised to be used to particularly support the delivery of laboratory-based treatment items, such as dentures.
For Sergey, this reform is too late. He said, “From the NHS we get £150 dentures. I have to pay about £90-100 for the laboratory so that means for us as a dentist we get £50 for four or five, for materials, for reception, for nurses, and what’s left over for the dentist? Obviously nothing.
“And for £12, you can’t sit for 30 minutes and do cleaning and oral hygiene. Plus, if you just do scale and polish for three minutes, what kind of quality are we talking about?”
The current fee structure has a knock-on effect on the quality of treatment. Sergey commented, “I’d rather see eight to 10 patients per day and do quality treatment than see 40 people per day where I don’t even have the time to go to the toilet while working with the NHS.”
He said that it has not been easy for him to inform patients of the change, “I’ve seen my patients for ten years and I know them so well. Now every time they come for a check-up we explain the problem and after we have to say ‘I’m sorry, goodbye, that was your last visit’ and it’s quite sad.
“Of course, people are upset and sad. Older people, especially, feel really frustrated – especially when you tell them they have to go around and find another practice to accept them as an NHS patient. We know nobody accepts new NHS patients anymore. It’s very sad and frustrating for them and they don’t know what to do.”