Bupa’s departure
On Tuesday 28 March, I received an email from Bupa informing me they planned to close their practice in Bolsover - just one day before the announcement was made public. The speed at which Bupa decided to close this practice down and how little consultation was had with staff was staggering. On Friday 24 March, just two working days before I was informed of the closure, my office received a phone call from the practice informing us they were in the process of hiring a new practitioner to relieve NHS pressures. Clearly, at this point, staff had not been informed of the impending announcement.
What have I done to help?
Following this announcement, I immediately demanded a meeting with the Director of Transformation and the Government Affairs Manager at Bupa in which I expressed extreme disappointment both at the decision to close the branch and the way this was handled. Although I repeatedly asked for the decision to be reversed, it was clear Bupa had no intention of listening.
I then asked for a meeting with the Chief Executive of the Integrated Care Board and representatives from NHS England to discuss ways to resolve this issue. In this meeting I made absolutely clear that returning direct dental provision to Bolsover was my number one priority and I would support any measures possible to ensure this happens. Whatever interim measures were considered, the long-term goal had to be the reopening of a full practice in the town.
The opening of a dental practice is an extraordinarily complex process, from hiring dentists to securing funding and getting the proper licences in place to operate the practice. On 25 April I spoke during Heath Questions in the House of Commons to ask the Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, Neil O’Brien, if he would meet with me and the Integrated Care Board to discuss the next steps.
At these meetings, the Minister shared both my disappointment in the handling of the situation on Bupa’s part and the importance of getting a new practice up and running as soon as possible. He also committed to working with local stakeholders to speed up this process and provide departmental support in getting this over the line.
To ensure those with emergency dental needs continued to have access to dentistry, it was agreed that practices in Clowne and Staveley would take on additional appointments after the closure of the Bupa practice. This remains in force today and I am extremely grateful to the hardworking teams at these practices for stepping up to the plate and helping provide the urgent dental care needed by residents of Bolsover.
What's next?
While plans to reopen the dental practice in full are still in place, it can take as long as 12 months for this to become fully functional due to complex procurement and health and safety requirements. Until this new practice can become operational, an interim caretaker service will be operating in the facilities vacated by Bupa. There is no official opening date for this new caretaker service but it is expected to open and be treating patients by early 2024. This is extremely welcome news and follows dozens of meetings with local stakeholders and Ministers in the Department for Health and Social Care, and raising my concerns about this issue in the House of Commons.
Why this is so important
While there are issues with NHS dentistry across the country, the East Midlands, and Bolsover in particular, are particularly badly affected. This was immediately apparent when I was elected as your MP and I have since conducted my own research which shows just how difficult some of my communities find getting adequate dental provision – whether this is due to the distance to the nearest practice or inadequate regional transport links. The closure of the Bupa Bolsover practice was particularly hard-hitting for local residents and for some, this will have added up to two hours for the time it takes to travel to and from their dental practice. That is why I fought so hard to ensure Bolsover residents were not swept under the rug following Bupa’s departure, and why this announcement is so welcome. This is a big win for residents and I will continue working to improve access to NHS dentistry across my constituency.
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