MP welcomes announcement of new dental practice for Wellington

Gideon Amos MP has expressed delight that, following years of campaigning “by many people” to improve NHS dental provision, a new practice is set to open in Wellington.
Mr Amos received a letter from NHS Somerset yesterday (Thursday), jointly signed by Dr Bernie Marden, Chief Medical Officer, and Jenny Albiston, Dental Strategy Clinical Lead.
It said that NHS Somerset was supporting plans for the new dental practice.
“The practice has identified a premises and is currently undertaking a full survey of the property, which would need full renovation and refurbishment.
“With these and other matters still to be confirmed, we are not currently in a position to provide a definitive timeline towards opening at this stage.
“However, we are pleased to say that the provider would be offering a mix of NHS and private dental services, enhancing NHS dental access in the area.
“We know people in the Wellington area, and more widely across Somerset, want better access to NHS dentistry and we hope you agree this is welcome news.
“This project is part of NHS Somerset’s broader dental recovery plan, which contains a range of measures to improve access.”
Mr Amos, who raised the issue of Somerset’s “dental scandal” in Parliament in November, said: “This is great news – I’m delighted that our efforts have been rewarded.
“In 2022, before I was a Member of Parliament, I launched a survey of dental provision by the NHS in Taunton and Wellington.
“It showed that fewer than half of the people there had access to an NHS dentist. Three years on, things have, incredibly, got worse.
“Over half the constituents who contacted me did have an NHS dentist but were then told it was going private, so they lost it. That decline has been consistent.
“My constituents are having to travel out of county and, as I said in the Chamber last year, one of them - a stage three cancer sufferer - is having to use her savings to pay for dental treatment she is entitled to for free on the National Health Service.”
He added: “This is good news for Wellington. Thank you to all those who have spoken out, who completed my survey or who have been pushing for better NHS dental provision in their own way.
“As Liberal Democrats, we ramped up pressure on the new Government, both by making the NHS and care our number one priority at the General Election and by working with the British Dental Association and others.
“As a team of 72 MPs, we have stopped at nothing in Parliament to push Ministers to provide more NHS dentists.
“This surgery, welcome though it is, won’t solve the whole of Somerset’s problems, so we will continue to make better dental provision and a better NHS generally, our number one priority.”