Hundreds have their say on Northumberland dental services

Coquetdale Dental Practice, which is based at Broomhill Health Centre, in Hadston.

Last October, NHS England (Cumbria and the North East) announced that operations were to cease at Coquetdale Dental Practice, which has centres in Rothbury and Hadston.

Due to personal circumstances, Simon Francis, who ran the surgeries, was no longer in a position to continue to deliver NHS dental services and therefore his contract ended.

In January, health chiefs insisted they were working to try to bring dental services back to the two villages and since then consultation with patients has been taking place.

This month’s meeting of Northumberland County Council’s health and wellbeing scrutiny committee received an interim update on progress, ahead of a full update at the next meeting in June.

In total, engagement via letters sent to previous patients, an online survey and drop-in sessions in Hadston and Rothbury resulted in 780 responses.

The analysis of this feedback is to be completed by the end of the month ‘to inform the next steps in the NHS England procurement process so that we can be confident we will be able to commission a viable and sustainable contract’.

Ben O'Connell, Local Democracy Reporting Service