Kent Patients Queue Through Night For NHS Place
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- Published: Tuesday, 08 August 2023 21:36
- Written by Guy Tuggle
- Hits: 1581
When Faversham Smiles based in Preston Street, Faversham, Kent, announced on its social media that it was accepting 60 new NHS patient enquiries, it was braced for a healthy response. What transpired resembled a tsunami.
Speaking exclusively to GDPUK, Practice Manager Eleanor Cain said "we promoted that we would accept the first 60 enquiries, 20 in person, 20 by e-mail and 20 by phone. If an enquiry was for a family of four, then we would accept all four, so the total number of new patients comfortably exceeds sixty."
The practice announcements added that it would not entertain archived patients who had displayed abusive behaviour or failed to attend past appointments.
KentOnLine spotted the practice’s social media posts and ran the news, effectively putting rocket fuel under it. Would-be patients queued through the night, 27000 calls were made or attempted and over 700 email enquiries were generated.
The overnight queue was started by a lady at 2000hrs. A second patient joined her at 0200 and gradually the queue grew to exceed a hundred according to media reports.
Needless to say, many would-be patients were not smiling as they could not be accomodated. Practice Manager Eleanor Cain was quoted in the MailOnLine saying "’We must work within our capacity as there is no sense in booking in hundreds of patients but then not being able to provide their required treatment in a reasonable timeframe.’
The six-surgery practice, which charges new private patients £50 for a first consultation and £45 for routine examinations (source: website) inclusive of x-rays has introduced a rolling waiting list, so that it can contact people looking for an NHS appointment when capacity permits.
Given the volume of interest many people will sadly be hoping, and waiting, in vain.
Eleanor Cain told GDPUK "I do want to stress that this was not about ’us’ or ’our practice’ but the shortage of NHS dentistry everywhere". News coverage of Faversham Smiles’s deluge included GMTV.
Ms Cain said her practice was in an area with few ’corporate providers’. Some BUPA practices had closed, otherwise there is a ’MyDentist’ in the town plus some other independents.
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