Three former members of staff at a Bradley Stoke care home that was closed down after an undercover operation by a BBC TV programme have pleaded guilty to ill-treating vulnerable patients.

Secretly filmed footage broadcast in a Panorama documentary on 31st May 2011 appeared to show vulnerable residents being pinned down, slapped, doused in water and taunted.

Avon and Somerset Police have since charged eleven people with ill treatment and neglect offences under the Mental Health Act.

All eleven appeared yesterday (Thursday 9th February) at Bristol Crown Court, where three of them pleaded guilty to a total of 18 charges relating to the ill-treatment of patients at Winterbourne View. Two defendants pleaded not guilty to charges of ill-treatment, with the remaining eight declining to enter pleas.

Defendants yet to enter pleas are due to return to court on Friday 16th March.

The private care home, which catered for adults with learning difficulties, is located within the Vantage Office Park (off Old Gloucester Road) in the south-east corner of Bradley Stoke [map].

Operating company Castlebeck closed the home on 24th June 2011, after patients were transferred to other services. Today, the building remains unused, with all ground floor windows and entrances boarded up.

The South Gloucestershire Safeguarding Adults Board is currently conducting a Serious Case Review into the allegations of abuse at Winterbourne View. According to a response to a recent Freedom of Information request, the review’s report is “likely to be published in March 2012 but this may be subject to change given the intervention of the criminal justice system”.

Other reviews are being (or have been) carried out by the NHS, the Care Quality Commission, Castlebeck and the Department of Health.

Related links:

• Three plead guilty to care home abuse (Bristol Evening Post)
• Winterbourne View hospital staff admit abuse charges (BBC)
• Our action since Winterbourne View (Care Quality Commission)

Bradley Stoke now has a second late-night, seven-days-a-week, chemist after the ‘Bradley Stoke Pharmacy’ opened last Monday on the Bradley Stoke Surgery site in Brook Way.

The new chemist, which is located remarkably close to the existing Lloyds pharmacy near Aldi, opens for 100 hours a week, enabling it to exploit a “loophole” in the law that avoids it needing to prove to the local health authority that it is “necessary and expedient”.

The news, announced in a low-key manner on the Bradley Stoke Surgery website, comes just seven months after Boots opened its ‘Midnight Pharmacy’, operating under the same 100-hour legislation, at its Willow Brook Centre store.

The town’s fourth pharmacy operates within the Tesco Extra store, also at the Willow Brook Centre.

A statement in the September edition of the Friends of Bradley Stoke Surgery newsletter reads:

“Work began at the end of August to create Bradley Stoke Pharmacy adjacent to the surgery which will enable patients to make one journey to see the doctor and collect their prescriptions at the same time.”

“We are delighted that this new initiative is going ahead which will provide even better services and be more convenient for patients.”

Staff at the new pharmacy told The Journal that it was operated independently of the Surgery. The company behind it, ‘Bradley Stoke Pharmacy Ltd’, has no other outlets, they added.

The rooms occupied by the new pharmacy, added during the Surgery’s expansion in 2010, were originally earmarked to be used as ‘clinical space’ but a planning application made in October 2010 successfully obtained permission to change the usage to ‘a 100-hour opening pharmacy’.

Opening hours at the new pharmacy are:

• Monday to Friday: 7am to 11pm
• Saturday: 8am to 8pm
• Sunday: 10am to 6pm

There could still be developments in the pipeline as NHS South Gloucestershire told The Journal in November 2010 that it was aware of three applications for 100-hour pharmacies in the Bradley Stoke area.

Related link: Pharmacies in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Bradley Stoke could soon have no less than three late-night, seven-days-a-week, pharmacies after a rush of planning and licensing applications in the last couple of months.

Boots, due to open soon at the Willow Brook Centre, became the first to reveal its hand when it submitted a planning application that included references to a “midnight pharmacy” at its new store.

Bradley Stoke Surgery then entered the race when it submitted a planning application to change the use of part of its newly-extended premises from “clinical space” to “a 100-hour opening pharmacy” and The Journal has since learned that a third licensing application for a 100-hour pharmacy in the area is being processed by the local health authority.

Following a part-liberalisation of licensing rules in 2005,  a pharmacy becomes exempt from having to prove that it is “necessary and expedient” if it opens for more than 100 hours a week.

When asked about the possible opening of new pharmacies in the town, NHS South Gloucestershire told The Journal:

The Boots pharmacy at Willow Brook has been approved as a 100-hour pharmacy. There are two further applications for 100- hour pharmacies pending under the exempt rules in the vicinity of Bradley Stoke Surgery.

The Journal requested a statement from Bradley Stoke Surgery but received no acknowledgement.

We also contacted the existing Lloyds pharmacy, across the road from the surgery, near the Aldi supermarket. They promised to get back to us but never did.

Will Lloyds move into Bradley Stoke Surgery or set up in 100-hour competition with whoever does? Who is the mysterious third applicant for a 100-hour licence? Can Bradley Stoke sustain three 100-hour pharmacies? Watch this space.

There’s just a week left to enter the Willow Brook Clinic’s competition to win a course of three free 30-minute massage treatments.

The competition, organised in conjunction with The Journal, is being run to mark the first anniversary of the chiropractic and physiotherapy clinic based on the first floor of the Willow Brook Centre.

Entries must be received by Tuesday 30th November 2010 and the winner will be announced on Friday 3rd December 2010.

Full details of the competition can be found here.

The Willow Brook Clinic is celebrating its first anniversary this month, having opened on 2nd November 2009, with a special competition being run in conjunction with the Bradley Stoke Journal.

In just one year the local community has benefited to such a degree that the Willow Brook Clinic has had to almost double the number of fully trained healthcare practitioners providing services including chiropractic treatment, physiotherapy, sports injury rehabilitation and remedial massage.  In addition, the need for neurological physiotherapy has been identified and this specialist service has been introduced.

As well as treating the local community’s ache and pains, the team at the Willow Brook Clinic have forged community links with local sports clubs including the Bradley Stoke Netball Club, Bradley Stoke Football Club, the Dream Cycling Team and the Stoke Lane Football Club.

Practice Manager Karen Ferguson said:

“Our first year has been a great success and we’re pleased to see more and more people realising how much we can help.”

“We’re very happy for people to pop in and have a chat, and we offer a free spinal check service that can identify problems before they become serious.”

Win a course of massage treatment in our exclusive competition

To celebrate its first anniversary, the Willow Brook Clinic is delighted to offer readers of the Bradley Stoke Journal the chance to win a course of three free 30-minute massage treatments.

Just email reception@willowbrookclinic.co.uk, quoting BSJ01, and answer the following question:  “When did the Willow Brook Clinic open?”

The competition closes on Tuesday 30th November 2010 and the winner will be announced on Friday 3rd December 2010.

Competition terms & conditions:

1. One prize available
2. No purchase necessary
3. Only one entry per person
4. Contestants must be aged 18 or over
5. There is no cash alternative
6. Management decision is final
7. Employees of Willow Brook Centre, its retailers or any associated companies are not permitted to enter this competition
8. The massage treatment is subject to passing an initial medical assessment

The Willow Brook Clinic has purpose built treatment rooms and all practitioners are recognised by medical insurance providers.  Assessment and treatment is provided for a wide range of conditions including back, neck and arm pain, injuries to muscles, ligaments and tendons, joint problems, post-operative rehabilitation and much more.

The clinic is situated on the first floor of the Willow Brook Centre and is open Monday to Friday 8am until 7pm and Saturdays 8am until midday.

Appointments may be made by telephoning 01454 625201.

Website: www.willowbrookclinic.co.uk

Bradley Stoke Surgery has announced that it has introduced an online appointment booking system “following feedback from its Friends group”.

The news follows criticism at the 2009 Annual Town Meeting, where one resident likened the surgery’s appointment system to something that might be found in a Third World country.

Patients leaving feedback on an official NHS website have complained of continuously engaged telephone lines when trying to book same-day appointments.  An anonymous comment left earlier this month on the feedback page for Bradley Stoke Surgery complained:

“The appointment system is hopeless as you struggle to get through on the phone only to be told there are no slots left. If you are prepared to queue up at 8am outside the Surgery without shelter you may get an appointment before lunch.”

Two other recent commenters described the appointment system as “appalling”.

News of the new online system came in the Spring issue of the Friends of Bradley Stoke Surgery newsletter circulated at the 2010 Annual Town Meeting.

According to the newsletter:

“Patients can now register to have the facility to book their appointments online at their convenience. Patients need to register in order to use the Book On Line system and this can be done in person at reception.”

When The Journal checked the online system at 7am this morning (Monday 24th), two morning and one afternoon appointments were available, all with the same doctor.

The surgery, which is currently undergoing a redevelopment that will see its floorspace nearly triple in size, says it is also planning to upgrade its telephone system:

“… we have been advised that another contract has been signed with a leading electronics company to provide the latest telephone technology. Work has already started to ensure that the new telephone system will be installed and the first stage will be operational in June.”

Related links:

• Friends of Bradley Stoke Surgery Newsletter – Spring 2010
• Photos of the surgery redevelopment (PicasaWeb)
• Doctors in and around Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Public left in the dark as work begins at Brook Way site

Work has finally begun on the long-awaited expansion of Bradley Stoke Surgery but patients and local residents continue to be kept in the dark about developments at the Brook Way site.

Construction firm ISG Pearce has installed a number of portacabins in the surgery’s car park and a large part of the site plus some public land on Brook Way has been boarded off. This has resulted in the number of spaces on the surgery side of the Brook Way car park being reduced from 20 to 9.

The notoriously secretive Bradley Stoke Surgery gave no warning that the work was due to start and one week later there are still no details about the redevelopment on the practice’s website. The Journal has also been unable to find any related information on the websites of Bradley Stoke Town Council, South Gloucestershire Council or NHS South Gloucestershire.

The Journal understands that the surgery was asked almost a year ago to give a presentation on its redevopment plans to the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group. As yet, no such presentation has taken place, with the surgery reportedly saying they “didn’t feel able to come yet” in July 2009.

The scheme hit the local headlines in December 2009 when NHS South Gloucestershire (NHSSG) was forced to admit that redevelopment of the surgery had been delayed due to the credit crunch. That revelation came after local resident Sachin Singhal had questioned why over 200 pregnant women from Bradley Stoke were having to travel to Filton or Patchway for treatment and advice.

Midwife services at the surgery were withdrawn in February 2009 when portacabins were removed from the rear of the premises but the anticipated redevelopment of the site then failed to materialise. NHSSG later admitted that: “with hindsight, the service was moved earlier than needed”.

The Journal has heard from an unofficial source that the redevelopment of the Brook Way surgery is likely to take nine months.

Elsewhere, there is no visible progress on the expansion of two other GP practices which NHSSG promised would be enhanced to serve the needs of Bradley Stoke residents.

Expansion of Stoke Gifford Medical Centre is on hold because its funding is tied to the proposed new housing development at Harry Stoke, which has been delayed “for the foreseeable future”.

Planning permission for an expansion of The Stokes Medical Centre on Braydon Avenue was approved in May 2009 but work at that site is also yet to start.

A September 2007 press release by NHSSG stated that: “All [three] of the practice developments should be completed by the end of 2008/9″. To which Chief Executive Penny Harris added:

“We have given formal public commitments to these developments and have set aside the funding for the schemes to commence.”

Despite the NHS plans for expansion of existing practices, a number of residents and Councillors have continued to call for a second medical centre to be constructed in Bradley Stoke. A parcel of land at Savages Wood Road (opposite the Tesco filling station) was originally earmarked for such a use but the site remains vacant and could now be sold off for housing or used as the location of a new “youth hub”.

The matter of a new medical centre was raised again at the January meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Community Group and Sarah Booker of South Gloucestershire Local Involvement Network (LINk), an independent patient-led health watchdog, has been actioned to report back to the group at a later date.

The new Sure Start Children’s Centre at Bowsland Green Primary School will offer a wide range of support services to families with children under five.

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) is staging a meeting at the school on Monday (18th January), the aim of which is to:

• Share information on what the Children’s Centre can offer
• Obtain views on the services that should be offered to serve the local community
• Recruit members (especially parents) for the Centre’s advisory board

The meeting takes place between 2 and 3:30pm. Further information is available from SGC Project Officer Gail Amphlett on 01454 864169.

Sure Start brings together childcare, early education, health and family-support services for families with children under 5 years old. It is the cornerstone of the Government’s drive to tackle child poverty and social exclusion working with parents-to-be, parents, carers and children to promote the physical, intellectual and social development of babies and young children so that they can flourish at home and when they get to school.

Funding for a Sure Start  Children’s Centre in Bradley Stoke was announced in December 2008, with Bowsland Green Primary School being named as the chosen site.

The new centre will be accommodated in the school’s original hall, a new, larger, hall having been constructed for the primary school children by converting an unused courtyard.

Phoenix Dental Bradley Stoke

The action is in support of November’s Mouth Cancer Action Month organised by the British Dental Health Foundation and Denplan.

The practice will also be manning a display stand at the Willow Brook Centre Bradley Stoke on Sunday 22nd November to raise public awareness of the problem.

The campaign, symbolised by a blue ribbon, calls upon dentists, pharmacists and all healthcare professionals to spread the message: “If in doubt get checked out”.

Phoenix Dental’s Wendy Bull told The Journal:

“Every five hours someone dies of mouth cancer in the UK. Statistics from cancer research UK shows that 5,325 new cases were diagnosed in 2006 – that’s more than cervical and testicular cancers combined and an increase of 41% over the last decade.. Yet very few people have even heard of the disease!”

“As oral healthcare professionals we are keen to highlight that if in any doubt at all about white or red patches in the mouth or mouth ulcers that don’t heal, then please see your dentist without delay. Early detection transforms survival chances to more than 90%.”

Free oral cancer screening and routine checks can be booked by calling Phoenix Dental Bradley Stoke on 01179 114 441.

Related link: Dentists in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Local Involvement Networks (LINks) aim to give citizens a stronger voice in how their health and social care services are delivered. Run by local individuals and groups and independently supported – the role of LINks is to find out what people want, monitor local services and to use their powers to hold them to account.

Everyone who lives in or receives health and social care services in South Gloucestershire is invited to attend this free event at the BAWA centre in Filton. There will be two duplicated session running; one from 2pm until 4pm and another in the evening from 6:30pm until 8:30pm.

This is South Gloucestershire’s chance to have a real say in their health and social care services, to get involved in a network and forum where their views can be heard by the people who are responsible for paying for (commissioning) and providing health and social care services in South Gloucestershire.

This includes all health services from GP services, through to community health services such as physiotherapy, to all the services that exist in your local hospitals. The social care services that the LINk can influence extend through all the adult social care services provided locally; including care homes, day care, respite and holiday care and the care provided in people’s homes.

The LINk can have a real influence on health and social care services. It works closely with your local NHS and your local authority; it can bring issues to the attention of the local overview and scrutiny committees and also to bodies such as the Healthcare Commission. It also has the power to occasionally inspect health and social care services where it has negotiated to do so with the service provider.

More Information:

• Health and Social Care Local Involvement Networks (Directgov)
• South Gloucestershire LINk
• Healthcare in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Bradley Stoke’s first-ever dental surgery opened for business today on the first floor of the mall building at the town’s Willow Brook Centre.

The opening marks the end of a long campaign to secure NHS dental provision in Bradley Stoke and follows years of frustration for residents, during which they have had to travel to practices in neighbouring towns.

The history of health care provision in Bradley Stoke is littered with false starts and setbacks. The Town Council proudly announced in September 2005 that a new health centre, incorporating a dental practice, was to be built on a site at Savages Wood Road (opposite the new Tesco filling station). Those plans were later shelved by NHS South Gloucestershire, which decided it would rather spend the money on extending existing GP practices that serve the town (and we’re still waiting for those, four years on!).

Local Lib Dems launched a campaign for a dental surgery in June 2007, claiming that no dentist within 3km of the town was currently accepting NHS patients. They were supported by local MP Steve Webb who said it was extraordinary that a community the size of Bradley Stoke (with more than 20,000 residents) did not have its own dental practice.

The first signs of progress came in October 2007 when South Gloucestershire Council approved Tesco’s plans for the development of a new town centre. The planning agreement included a requirement on Tesco to “actively market one of the upper floor units of the mall … for use as a dental surgery for a minimum period of six months”.

Further confirmation that things were happening came in April 2008 when NHS South Gloucesterhire started the tendering process for “the new Bradley Stoke dental practice”, quoting a target opening date of December 2008.

That timescale proved slightly optimistic as the chosen service provider, Phoenix Dental Limited, was not appointed until January 2009.

Phoenix initially said they would be opening the practice in April 2009, but later confirmed the date had slipped to 18th May 2009.

The practice, which employs two dentists an a hygienist, is open from 8:30am to 6pm Monday – Friday, with later opening on Wednesdays until 7:30pm. Some appointments may also be available on Saturday mornings.

Access to the surgery is via a door to the left of the main car park entrance to the mall, from where stairs and a lift lead to the first floor.

The company’s literature says it is one of the few remaining practices to provide dental care for both adults and children under the NHS.

Appointments may be made by phoning 01179 114441 or via the Bradley Stoke Dental Surgery website.

Patient registrations for Bradley Stoke’s soon to open NHS dental practice have begun with the launch of a new website.

Phoenix Dental Ltd, which already operates practices in Almondsbury, Kingswood and Yate, has announced that Bradley Stoke’s first-ever NHS dentist will open on Monday 18th May.

Patients can now book check-up appointments online at: http://www.phoenixdental.co.uk/bradley_s/

Bookings are also being taken by telephone on 0117 9114441.

The two chair dental surgery will be based in ‘mall office unit #1′ (shown red in the plan below) on the first floor of the Willow Brook Centre.

A spokesperson for Phoenix Dental told The Journal that leaflets advertising the new practice will be distributed in the Willow Brook Centre this coming weekend (18th/19th April).

Related Links: NHS Dentists in Bradley Stoke and the Surrounding Area

The earlier application, made in January, was withdrawn after planning officials indicated that they were minded to refuse it “on design grounds and non contribution to transport measures”.

A new application was submitted on 26th March and consultation on the revised plans will run until 16th April, with a decision expected by 23rd June.

The number of flats included in the proposed new wing has been reduced from four to two, while the proposed number of cycle parking spaces at the site has been increased from 12 to 26.

A source at the practice told The Journal that it is hoped to have the new wing ready by the end of 2010, after which the expansion and refurbishment of the existing building will commence.

The catchment area of The Stokes Medical Centre includes Little Stoke, Patchway and parts of Bradley Stoke (south-west of Bradley Stoke Way) and Stoke Gifford.

The centre is one of three GP practices that NHS South Gloucestershire has said will be expanded to serve the healthcare needs of Bradley Stoke residents, after plans to create a new health centre near the new town centre in Savages Wood Road were dropped.

The other practices being expanded are Bradley Stoke Surgery (Brook Way) and Stoke Gifford Medical Centre (Ratcliffe Drive).

Work began at Brook Way Surgery a few weeks ago when portable buildings were cleared from the rear of the site, but there has been no further activity since then.

A temporary expansion of Stoke Gifford Medical Centre, consisting of three ‘portacabins’, was approved by planners in February.

Officials at South Gloucestershire Council have approved plans for a temporary expansion of Stoke Gifford Medical Centre, which serves the southern part of Bradley Stoke.

The expansion, formed of three ‘portacabins’ to be sited east of the present building in Ratcliffe Drive, is seen as a precursor to a major scheme of expansion at the premises, which is currently on hold due to funding difficulties.

Information supplied with the planning application states that:

“A new business case [for a substantial expansion] was approved by the PCT [NHS] in May 2008. However part of the capital funding for the extension/refurbishment is dependant upon the development of new housing at Harry Stoke, and it appears that this has been delayed for the foreseeable future.”

Installation of temporary accommodation was therefore proposed to “help relieve the current shortfall in accommodation whilst the delays to the funding of the extension/refurbishment are resolved.”

Planners have now given the green light for the portacabins for a period of five years, although the practice hopes that they will be needed for no more than three years.

A spokesperson for the practice gave the following statement to The Journal:

We are delighted that our planning application to provide additional accommodation by means of temporary buildings has been approved by South Gloucestershire Council. Planning permission has been granted for a period of up to 5 years, though we hope that the temporary buildings will not be required for anything near that length of time.

South Gloucester PCT approved our business case for a £1.7million permanent extension and refurbishment of our existing premises in the first half of 2008. The provision of temporary accommodation for a limited period of time was an essential element of the proposal. We are now working with our architects, G2 Architects, to work out the detail of the permanent scheme and in particular to identify a financial framework that will allow us to proceed to full implementation. The practice is responsible for raising the capital for the project, though the PCT has committed to a rental value to help support the required borrowing.

Stoke Gifford Medical Centre is fully committed to serving the populations of Stoke Gifford, Bradley Stoke, Harry Stoke and Filton (from our Conygre Road facility) and providing comprehensive primary care facilities from modern, well equipped premises.

The centre is one of three GP practices that NHS South Gloucestershire has said will be expanded to meet healthcare demand in Bradley Stoke, after plans to build a new health centre near the new town centre in Savages Wood Road were dropped.

Related Link: GP practices serving Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

A medical practice serving a large part of Bradley Stoke has submitted plans for a major expansion.

The Stokes Medical Centre in Braydon Avenue, Little Stoke, has made a planning application to South Gloucestershire Council that would see the surgery increase its floorspace by 125%.

Also featured in the plans are an opticians’ unit, a dental unit and a “diagnostic centre”.

The expansion will be achieved through extension of the existing surgery and pharmacy building plus the construction of a new two storey block sited at right angles to the existing building.

Residential accommodation is also included in the plans, with four self-contained flats on the first floor of the new block.

The catchment area of The Stokes Medical Centre includes Little Stoke, Patchway and parts of Bradley Stoke (south-west of Bradley Stoke Way) and Stoke Gifford.

The centre is one of three GP practices that NHS South Gloucestershire has said will be expanded to serve the healthcare needs of Bradley Stoke residents, after plans to create a new health centre near the new town centre in Savages Wood Road were dropped.

Bradley Stoke Surgery in Brook Way, Bradley Stoke, had two sets of applications for expansion approved last year, after the government’s Planning Inspectorate overruled South Gloucestershire Council’s view that the proposed plans represented “over-development” of the site.

Dr Simon Bradley of The Stokes Medical Centre said:

“Just 4 minutes drive or a kilometre walk from Bradley Stoke Town Centre, our plans are a much needed opportunity for local families to have access to the purpose built medical and diagnostic centre that was previously intended for the town centre but which was never built.”

More Information:

• Press Release on Expansion Plans at The Stokes Medical Centre

NHS South Gloucestershire

The two chair dental surgery will be based in ‘mall office unit #1′ (shown red in the plan below) on the first floor of the Willow Brook Centre, Bradley Stoke’s new town centre development.

The practice is to be run by Phoenix Dental, who currently operate one other surgery in the area at High Street, Kingwood. The owner of Phoenix Dental is understood to also own practices in Almondsbury and Yate, which operate under different names.

Information released by local South Gloucestershire Cllr Jon Williams, who sits on the Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, reveals that the contract is worth £320,000 per annum and involves 10,000 units of ‘dental activity’ per year.

Cllr Williams (Liberal Democrat) welcomed the news saying:

“After a long running campaign to get an NHS dentist in Bradley Stoke I am obviously very pleased that the PCT [NHS] have been able to secure the contract for this much needed service. I know that many residents travel miles to obtain a dental service and it will be a relief to them that there will now be one on their doorstep. I understand that the new service will start to advertise their presence from the end of February and residents will be able to access the new service from April. This is a big boost for the town”.

A source at Phoenix Dental confirmed to The Journal that the aim is to have the practice operational by the first week in April. The company hopes to be able to announce the commencement of patient registration in February, when a website (through which registrations can be made) will go live

Once open, the practice will operate five days a week (Mon – Fri), from 9am to 5pm.

Willow Brook Centre manager, Scott Lahive, sounded a note of caution however, when he told The Journal that the NHS has yet to sign the lease for the office unit. This was confirmed by Phoenix Dental, who said they are waiting for the NHS to exchange contracts before they can commence the fitting out of the practice.

The Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council also made a statement, celebrating the news and highlighting the “long-running Conservative campaign for a dentist in the town”.

Cllr for Bradley Stoke South, Rob Jones, said:

“This is great news for Bradley Stoke residents. I am delighted that our petition and council motion has been listened to by the local NHS.”

His Bradley Stoke South colleague, John Ashe added:

“There has been a chronic need for dentistry provision in the town for years and so residents will be really pleased that they have now got a date of when they can expect their local dentist to open.”

For anyone needing to see a dentist before April, NHS South Gloucestershire has asked us to point out that many dentists in the South Gloucestershire area are currently accepting new patients and it’s never been easier to find the one nearest to you, just by ringing a new dental hotline.

The new Avon NHS Dental Helpline number is 0845 120 6680 and is available Monday to Friday, from 9am to 6pm. The Helpline number is also the same for patients who may need to see a dentist out of hours in an emergency.

The new telephone enquiry service complements the online dentist and GP search facility available via the NHS Choices website.

Related Links in The Journal:

• Healthcare in Bradley Stoke