Some important news about your future dental care...

As valued patient's of Ruthin Dental Practice, we are sure you will have experienced our whole team's dedication and

commitment to providing you with the highest level of dental care, and that remains our key priority. For many years

now we have proudly provided this care under the umbrella of the NHS. Between our present dentists we have over

80 years of dedicated service to NHS dentistry, more recently however, we have found it increasingly difficult to

attract any new dentists to the area, with many dentists not considering NHS dentistry an attractive career. A chronic

lack of investment in NHS dentistry by successive governments coupled with rapidly rising costs means we no longer

feel that we can provide the level of dental care you have come to expect and remain a viable business.

We are working tirelessly with the Local Health Board to enable us to continue to provide an NHS service for the

children of the area.

What's changing?

Like many NHS practices across the UK, we are having to make crucial decisions to ensure our practice survives and

is here to provide your dental care in the long term. As such, we have made the decision to move away from the NHS

and will no longer be seeing patients under the NHS from 30th June 2023. Instead, we will be here to provide your

dental care on a private basis. To do that, we have introduced a patient membership plan that we are delighted to

invite our patients to join.

Our patient membership plan helps you keep your teeth and gums healthy by allowing you to budget monthly for your

dental care so you can attend on a basis that's right for you. Through longer regular examinations and hygiene

appointments, we can spot issues early, potentially saving you from more invasive treatment in the future.

What's next

All NHS patients are being sent a letter with information about joining our membership. Becoming a member is easy.

What about my NHS appointment?

If you have an NHS examination which was booked in the diary before 12th May 2023, we will still see you for this and

provide any required treatment, under the NHS, as planned. Unfortunately, we won't be able to treat NHS patients

after the 30th June 2023.

What if I don't want to join?

If you wish to continue to access NHS dental services after 1st July 2023 then please visit the sites below to find a list

of practices and their contact details:

https://111.wales.nhs.uk/LocalServices/Default.aspx?s=Dentist or

https://bcuhb.nhs.wales/services/where-do-i-go1/dental/

NHS 111 and the Health Board do not hold information on whether a general dental practice is accepting new NHS

patients, patients will need to contact the dental practice directly.

Patients finding themselves in urgent need of a dentist and who have been unable to locate a practice that can

accommodate them should contact NHS 111 where they will triaged and, if appropriate, directed into an urgent

access session (EDS).

What about children?

If your child is registered with us, you will receive a separate letter outlining how the change will impact them. We are

working with the Local Health Board to enable us to continue to provide an NHS service for the children of the area.

Once again, thank you for your support. We look forward to continuing to look after you and your dental health.

Yours sincerely.

Dr Robert Winstanley and Dr Thomas Gregg.