500,000 TO LOSE DENTIST

85 practices will be shut down by healthcare giant

- MARTIN BAGOT

A PRIVATE health care firm is closing 85 dental practices, leaving around 500,000 patients without access to a dentist.

Bupa is blaming the Government's flawed funding contract for the closures, which come at a time when NHS dentistry is already in crisis.

The firm said it had not been able to recruit enough dentists to deliver NHS care in many practices for months, and in some cases years.

The 85 practices will be closed, sold or merged later this year, affecting 1,200 staff and cutting the number of Bupa's UK dental practices to 365.