July 26, 2018 9.25 am This story is over 69 months old

Four new dental practices promised for Lincolnshire

Better access for thousands
The practice says there is no risk to patients | Stock image

Four new dental practices will be opened in Lincolnshire as well as the replacement of a former hospital NHS dental service – treating around 40,000 patients a year.

The new practices have been promised for Lincoln, Spalding, Sleaford and Boston, representing an annual local dental care investment of nearly £3.4 million – almost £34 million over the 10 year contract.

The former NHS dental service at Johnson Community Hospital in Pinchbeck will also be replaced.

Contracts will come into effect from January 2019, commissioned by NHS England.

They will provide a total of 116,000 ‘Units of Dental Activity’ (measure of work carried out) to NHS patients every year – this roughly translates to 40,000 patients treated a year.

In detail

Three new practices providing general dental services (routine and urgent care) from 8am to 8pm, 365 days a year in Lincoln, Sleaford and Spalding.

These services will be provided by JDSP Dental Ltd.

One new extended access dental practice for routine and urgent care in Boston, to open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week (excluding bank holidays).

This service will also be provided by JDSP Dental Ltd.

An extended access dental service at Johnson Community Hospital in Pinchbeck to replace the service provided there until August 2017.

This service will be provided by Community Dental Services CIC and will be open 8am to 8pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 8am to 6.30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8.30am to 1pm on Saturdays, and 9am to 12.30pm on alternative Sundays (except Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday).

The new general dental service contracts have been commissioned by NHS England (Central Midlands) in response to an assessment of local dental needs in Lincolnshire.

The exact locations of the new practices within each area will be agreed between NHS England and the service providers, with further details to be announced in the coming months.

The new service at Johnson Community Hospital will operate from the same location as the previous one.

Failed bids in Louth and Skegness

Bids were also invited to provide extended access dental services in Louth and the Skegness/Spilsby area (total 15,000 UDAs), but these two contracts have not been awarded because the bids received “did not meet NHS England’s criteria”.

NHS England (Central Midlands) said it will now review these contract lots before deciding on next steps.

Better access to dental care

Di Pegg, Head of Primary Care for NHS England in Lincolnshire, said: “We’re also pleased to have reached an agreement for extended access NHS dental services to return to Johnson Community Hospital for the long term.

“It’s disappointing that we’ve not been able to award contracts for new services in Louth or the Skegness and Spilsby area as we’d hoped, but we will be renewing our focus on improving access to NHS dental care in these areas as soon as possible.

“Overall, the fact that we are delivering a significant increase in the availability of NHS dental treatment throughout Lincolnshire will come as welcome news for thousands of local people, who from January 2019 will find it much easier to benefit from routine, urgent and out-of-hours NHS dental care closer to where they live.”

Have you had any issues accessing dental care in Lincolnshire? You can reach the news room to tell us about your experience by emailing [email protected]