Councillor flies to Poland to get his teeth fixed

A councillor fed up with the NHS jetted to Poland to get his teeth fixed.
Ray Apperley, 64, told...

A councillor fed up with the NHS jetted to Poland to get his teeth fixed.

Ray Apperley, 64, told fellow members of Gloucestershire’s health watchdog committee on Monday how he booked a Ryanair return flight to Warsaw for £50, and paid £102 for the three fillings. He told his story after hearing that NHS detistry was only available to 45% of people in Gloucestershire – 20% less than the national figure.

But Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) said he could have signed on with four other practices rather than go abroad.

The councillor countered this saying, the four in question were too far away.

“My experience of NHS dentistry in Gloucestershire is pretty poor,” Coun Apperley told Gloucestershire Health Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC).

“I was with my dentist 25 years and he said he was giving up the NHS because of the new contract.

“I went to another dentist in the Dursley area.

“I started treatment only to receive a letter saying they had oversubscribed the number of people and I could not carry on.

“The next excuse was people who missed two appointments are struck off.

“Then they came back and said they did not have to treat anyone anyway.

“I went to Poland to get my next fillings.”

His son Andrew’s wife Magdalena arranged for him to stay with her parents in Warsaw and he made the trip on Ryanair with Andrew in November 2007.

The Conservative member of Stroud District Council, who stands on the cross party HOSC, has a lung condition, Bronchiectasis, which means he cannot lean back far, so it takes twice as long to treat him as most other patients.

Speaking after the meeting, he said Cam Dental Surgery sent him a letter saying it was oversubscribed and could not carry on treating him, so he contacted the PCT, as it commissioned the work.

He said the practice told the PCT that patients are taken off the list if they miss two appointments – but he didn’t miss any.

Coun Apperley, from Sheepscombe, Stroud, complained to the PCT again and said he was told the surgery reserved the right to treat any patient.

On Monday, the committee was told by PCT primary and community services director Debra Elliott that NHS dentistry was available to 45% of people in Gloucestershire. The national figure is 65%.

Since 2006, dentists who do NHS work have been commissioned by PCTs to meet a target of units of dental activity (UDA).

In Gloucestershire, 74 practices and 154 dentists have NHS contracts.

A PCT spokeswoman said Coun Apperley was offered four choices for NHS dentistry after fully investigating his complaint.

“The PCT has been investing significant extra funds in the past couple of years,” she said.

“We will continue to invest funds this year to expand provision across Gloucestershire.

“This includes working with a number of existing practices across the county to expand their work for the NHS. Last year, we continued our commitment to improving levels of access by opening new dental centres in Cirencester, Lydney and Tewkesbury.

“This built on the opening of two new dental centres the previous year.

“We will be looking to increase capacity by a further 10% in 2009-10.

“The PCT fully investigated the complaint outlined by Coun Apperley with regards to his dental treatment at the time.

“In order for Coun Apperley to continue receiving NHS Dental treatment, four other practices offering NHS dentistry were suggested. We understand that Coun Apperley has since found an alternative dentist in Gloucestershire.”

She said there were currently nine practices offering NHS dentistry places across Gloucestershire.

If a patient was looking to have a course of treatment they should contact the Dental Helpline on 08454 220 505 or see the PCT website for which practices have places.

The availability of places changes regularly

From website of  www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk