Police tell people in Bristol NHS dentist queue to go home

Police have told people queuing for an NHS dentist appointment to go home and come back tomorrow. Hundreds of people have been lined up outside a new NHS dental practice in St Pauls today, with hopes of registering to see a dentist.

A long line stretching along Ashley Court formed today which reportedly started at 8.30am. However, those remaining in the line this afternoon have been told by police to go home and come back tomorrow.

The former dental surgery, Bupa Dental Care was hit by mass closures last June, and locals petitioned to secure a new dentist. Now renamed Saint Pauls Dental Practice, the NHS dentist opened this morning for people to register.

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Registration for the St Pauls dental practice has closed for today, with police community support officers (PCSO) at the scene turning people away.

While hundreds of eager dental patients waited in the queue, it is uncertain if the new branch will have enough NHS places to meet the high demand. One local resident, Maria, who lives nearby on Lower Cheltenham Place, is almost 80 but stood in the queue for two-and-a-half hours to secure a place after being unable to get an NHS place in other nearby practices after the Bupa one closed.

She told Bristol Live: “I think it’s important to keep up with good healthcare. It’s disgusting that it was closed in the first place.

“One of my neighbours is facing an operation for cancer tomorrow, she will be somewhere in the queue, she’s also disabled and can’t stand very long but she has no choice and is way back in the queue. There are just not enough dentists available for the people in the area and this was a godsend until it closed. I don’t know how they could have closed it down.”

Between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 North Bristol NHS Trust saw 235 patients enter their emergency department with dental abscesses and 55 as a result of tooth decay. University Hospitals, Bristol and Weston NHS foundation Trust saw 775 patients with dental abscesses and 290 with tooth decay in the same time period according to the official NHS statistics.