New dental practice to open

People living in Much Wenlock are being urged to register at a new NHS dental surgery which has finally opened its doors for business.

The surgery will be available to residents who are not currently able to get NHS dental care locally.

The location of the surgery has not been revealed to try to avoid people overwhelming the switchboard or recreating similar scenes seen at other NHS surgeries around the country of queueing outside.

Head of primary care at Shropshire PCT, Laura Browse, described the new practice as an “exciting” development for the town.

“We are pleased to announce the opening of a new surgery in an area which has been without dental provision for a number of years,” she said.

“The new surgery is part of the PCT’s efforts in trying to expand dental services in rural areas and this is the start of the expansion.

“We are very excited to be opening it up and there will be other services coming on stream throughout the year.

“We are not revealing the location yet because we are trying to avoid scenes where new surgeries are overwhelmed by people trying to register there directly.

“We have taken the decision to open it like this so we can try and manage the register and do it in a fair way.”

Shropshire has been dubbed one of the country’s 16 crisis zones for dental care and previous plans to open a surgery in the town failed after a £120,00 funding bid was refused.

Anyone interested in registering can call Shropshire County Primary Care Trust’s dental helpline on 07530 605125 or e-mail dental.admin@shropshirepct.nhs.uk

Appointments are only being arranged via the helpline and people are being asked not to contact the practice directly.