Following the announcement made by James Roach, Director of Primary Care at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, on Thursday that “There will be an NHS dentist who will take over the practice in Freshwater”, staff at the dental practice on Avenue Road have been overwhelmed with the volume of calls.
Avoid calling unless urgent
On Friday staff reported being unable to make bookings for patients suffering with toothache or requiring ongoing treatment as they are too busy taking calls from people hoping to register with the new service.
As things stand though, workers at the mydentist practice are in the dark as to who the new owners of the practice may be, if and when patients will be able to register for treatment, and are even unsure whether they will have employment come the end of the month.
Staff felt threatened
The inability of staff to answer the queries from hundreds of Islanders, has led to much frustration, with many callers responding aggressively and staff feeling threatened by some who have turned up at the practice in person.
For now, unless you are an existing patient with an appointment or an urgent need for treatment, everyone is asked to remain patient and not contact mydentist in Freshwater as we await an announcement from the Integrated Care Board (ICB) as to the future of the practice in the coming weeks.
Urgent treatment
For anyone else, please call NHS 111 if you are requiring urgent treatment. Alternatively you can use the NHS Find A Dentist tool, found on the NHS website.
And to report any problems with accessing NHS services, please report it via Healthwatch Isle of Wight website.
News shared by Ieuan. Ed
