Dentists 'gave patients ultimatum' before sign-up

People who queued for hours at a dental practice say they were forced to pay for a hygienist appointment before being allowed to register as NHS patients.

A number of patients have spoken to the BBC claiming they were given an "ultimatum" - to pay £69 for the hygienist or be unable to sign up - when they reached the reception at Lodge Causeway Dental Centre in east Bristol.

Alice Worthington, from south Bristol, said she "didn't actually need a hygienist appointment at all" but that "it's impossible to find an NHS dentist, so I paid the £70".

The dental practice said the appointments were "offered" alongside a check-up and has apologised to patients for any confusion.

The practice said it has seen 2,591 NHS patients since it held an open day in September, and has only offered 108 hygienist appointments since then.

It added its systems were set up to automatically take payment for such appointments in advance, but has acknowledged that some patients found this to be inappropriate.

A contract between the NHS and dentists stipulates that a health care provider cannot refuse an NHS patient if they do not want to pay for a private service as well.

Lodge Causeway Dental Centre ran the open day on 6 September, which saw thousands of people queueing for the chance to register with an NHS dentist.

Ms Worthington said she heard about the registration day by word of mouth, and started queueing before the practice opened at 08:00 BST.

She said she was in line outside for about three-and-a-half hours, and that while staff engaged with people in the queue regularly, there was never any mention of having to pay £69 for a hygienist appointment first.

"We got into reception and they told us that if we wanted to register as an NHS patient we would have to pay £70 for a hygienist appointment," she said.

"I didn't actually need a hygienist appointment at all. I'd recently had one with the private practice that I was going to, but we were told that until we'd paid the £70 we were not going to be registered with the NHS."

Ms Worthington said she paid the fee because she felt that "in the long run that would save me money".

She added that she felt bad for others in the queue who might not be able to afford such a cost, including a lady who had been "very upset" that despite phoning earlier that week she had not been told about the fee.

Sam Mellor, from Bedminster, said he arrived outside the practice after 07:00 and managed to get to the reception shortly after 11:00.

Having spoken to frustrated patients who had just paid the £69 for the hygienist, Mr Mellor said he asked the receptionist if this was in fact the case.

He said that she responded by telling him if he wanted to be registered as an NHS patient, he needed to book a hygienist appointment.

She advised that he could pay for it at a later date, before the appointment, but that he would have to book it and would not be registered as an NHS patient until he had paid.

Mr Mellor said he paid for the appointment and subsequently complained in an email about the service offered and being forced to sign up to the hygienist.

Lodge Causeway Dental Practice replied to Mr Mellor in an email seen by the BBC, claiming that the hygienist's appointment was "just an offer".

But Mr Mellor insists this was not the case for him and many others, describing it as an "ultimatum".

When alerted to the situation by the BBC, the chair of the British Dental Association (BDA), Eddie Crouch, described the scenario as "alarming".

"If they're being told they have to have a private hygienist appointment before having some NHS dental treatment, then I don't think that's correct," he said.

"We know there are 14 million people, sadly, at the moment, who want access to an NHS dentist, but those 14 million people need to be supported by government, and not abused by any bad practice within our membership."

Lodge Causeway Dental Centre said 95% of the people it has seen since Septmember were in need of urgent care, but for those that were not in need of such care, an "offer" of a dental hygienist appointment was made alongside a dental check-up.

It said its systems automatically took payment for such appointments in advance, and acknowledged some patients found it "inappropriate".

It said it was "apologising unreservedly" for this and encouraged any patients to contact the practice to discuss the matter.

A spokesperson for the NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) explained that NHS dentists are allowed to offer a choice to patients on whether or not they would like to book a hygienist appointment, but that patients "should not be obliged to pay for an appointment at the time of registering".

The ICB is encouraging affected patients to get in touch with their customer services team if they have concerns.