The Bradley Stoke Journal

NHS South Gloucestershire has confirmed that two new NHS dentists are expected to be operational in Bradley Stoke from April 2009. The news confirms an exclusive story carried in The Journal last August.

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

Bradley Stoke’s first-ever dental practice remains on track to open early next year in the town’s new Willow Brook Centre.

Residents seeking treatment currently have to travel to Patchway, Stoke Gifford, Winterbourne, or Filton to find an NHS dentist, but from April 2009 a two surgery practice will be available in Bradley Stoke’s new town centre.

South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) recently placed a tender advertisement for the new practice in the British Dental Journal and a PCT spokesperson has given the following update to The Journal:

All the bids are in and South Gloucestershire PCT is in the process of looking at them. A paper will go to the the PCT’s Trust Board at the end of September with recommendations of the preferred supplier.

Meanwhile a new dental helpline has been launched to help people in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset find their nearest available NHS dentist. The NHS Dental Helpline can be reached on 0845 120 6680 and is available Monday to Friday, from 9am to 6pm.

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

Bradley Stoke is to gain its first dental practice, located on the upper floor of the town’s new shopping mall currently under construction in the new town centre development at Savages Wood Road.

Details of the proposed practice first came to light in the agenda for the Board Meeting of the South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) on 30th April 2008. Under an item titled “Tender Process for the new Bradley Stoke Dental Practice”, the Board was recommended to:

• Agree to a national tender process in line with the PCT’s contestability framework.
• Agree to the proposal to enter into a temporary lease with Tesco Stores Limited to secure the facility in Bradley Stoke whilst the tender process is completed.
• Approve the outline project plan for managing the tender process.

The proposed timeline included :

• Invitation to tender published in the British Dental Journal by 12th May 2008.
• Contract to start 8th October 2008.
• Service to commence 15th December 2008.

The PCT duly confirmed that it had entered into a lease agreement with Tesco Stores in a statement made to The Journal on 9th May 2008:

The PCT is very pleased to confirm that the PCT Board have approved a lease agreement with Tesco for the siting of a dental surgery in the new shopping centre as part of the ongoing programme of development of quality services in the area.

However, when The Journal enquired as to the progress of the tender process on 12th June 2008, we were given the following statement by the PCT:

The PCT is commissioning a new dental service in Bradley Stoke with an anticipated opening date of April 2009. The site has been secured and will be a two surgery practice within the new Mall currently being developed as part of the Tesco development.

An advert [has been] placed in the British Dental Journal. The deadline [for expressions of interest] is 25th June.

The PCT did not indicate why the projected opening date has slipped from December 2008 to April 2009.

The town’s new two-storey shopping mall (pictured below – under construction) is attached to the new Tesco Extra store and is due to open in “late autumn [2008]” according to the latest available information released by Tesco.

More information about Bradley Stoke’s new town centre development can be found elsewhere in The Journal:

• New Town Centre posts
• New Town Centre pages

Photos of the new town centre construction work can be seen in our PicasaWeb Gallery.