Claire Hazelgrove MP and local clinician at mydentist.
A new state-of-the-art NHS dental practice is set to open in Filton early next year.
The multi-million pound practice will accommodate the mydentist practice in Filton Road, as well as two other practices.
It is not yet known where the new 22-chair site will be located in Filton or which other practices will also be moving.
MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke Claire Hazelgrove visited the practice on September 4 to discuss the plans, following a nationwide initiative to make dental services more accessible to patients.
The local site participated in the Government’s initiative to roll out an extra 700,000 urgent dental appointments nation- wide — 19,076 of which were funded for the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucester- shire NHS area.
Ms Hazelgrove met the team, including the practice manager and clinicians, to also hear about challenges facing the practice, in- cluding how training and funding can be used to support practices to reach their communities.
Ms Hazelgrove said: “It was excellent to meet the team at mydentist here in Filton and hear more about their exciting plans to move to an even bigger site, where they’ll be able to open their books to more local NHS patients – music to many ears, I’m sure. I’m grateful to Leah and all the staff for taking the time to show me around their practice and share their thoughts on how our action to boost urgent care appoint- ments and changes to the dental contract are helping them deliver in the way they want to for local patients.
“Improving access to NHS dentistry has been an issue I’ve championed since be- fore I was elected. With our community prioritised by government for more urgent care appointments, we’ve seen some good progress, but there’s still more to do.”
Since the visit, the local MP has launched a new community survey to identify residents’ priorities and understand the scale of local challenges.
Residents are encouraged to share their views here: https://clairehazelgrove.co.uk/survey-dental-services/