As 2023 comes to an end, a reflection on the year.

The Good.

Our commitment to the NHS endures and we continue to provide a good quality service in spite of everything you hear about NHS Dentistry in the press.

Delivering this commitment is dependent on having the right team and enough of them and this year we were really pleased to be joined in September by Amrish, a Bristol qualified Dentist. He is already a great asset to the St. Paul’s team.

As a result we were able to take on more patients in 2023.

We are also fortunate to have some exceptionally talented trainee dental nurses who are well on the way to achieving their Dental Nursing qualifications, over the next months/years. https://www.stpaulsdentalpractice.co.uk/dental-team.html

The Bad.

However recruitment is an ongoing issue. We need more people with the right skills and attitude, in keeping with the Practice ethos. We are continually advertising and currently looking for a Dentist; Hygiene/Therapist and qualified Dental Nurse.

Unfortunately qualified staff are disillusioned with working within the NHS framework.

 http://www.freepik.com

Early next year, Tariq will be leaving us and it’s imperative we find a suitable replacement as soon as possible.

The Ugly.

To match our commitment to you, we need a commitment from you.

NHS England award us a contract dependent on us delivering a specific amount of dentistry each year. We are penalised if we under perform and similarly if we overperform. In the 17 years of working with this current contract, we have always met our targets. However this is dependent on our surgeries working at maximum capacity, having no empty spaces in our normal working day.

We are plagued by missed appointments and late cancellations, unable to fill these appointments at short notice. Today for example one surgery had 6 late cancellations!

Please when you book your appointment, make sure it works for you and consider the impact on us if you don’t attend. Naturally there are unavoidable circumstances but where possible, we require at least 24 hour notice to re-allocate your appointment time.

The long term impact could unfortunately result in the South West losing yet another NHS Dentist. https://www.bda.org/media-centre/half-of-dentists-have-cut-back-nhs-work-with-more-to-follow-as-crisis-mounts/