HAWES residents are set to have access to an emergency dental service in the town from today.

The new service is being run by the Hambleton and Richmondshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) following a decision by a number of dental practices in towns across the Northern Dales to reduce their commitment to the provision of NHS services from the beginning of April. The PCT began providing a similar service in Bedale and Leyburn last month.

This new NHS service - provided by the PCT's North Yorkshire Dental Care Services team - operates on a weekly basis and is for people who need urgent dental treatment only.

Maddy Ruff, Director of Primary Care at the PCT, said: "We recognise that there is a lot of concern about the dental situation in Bedale and Wensleydale and are reassuring people that arrangements are in place to re-provide NHS dental services.

The problems facing the Wensleydale area arose following a new Government contract for NHS dentists. Many were not happy with the new arrangements and decided to move to the private sector. The PCT is currently working to establish a full time NHS service.

Maddy Ruff added: "The PCT has worked extremely hard over the last two years to improve access to NHS dental services for our population.

"We have increased NHS registrations by 5,000 over last two years and even with the predicted loss of around 4,000 registrations as a result of the new contract, there will still have been a net figure of 1000 additional registrations created.

"We will continue to work to ensure high quality dental care is available to the residents of Hambleton and Richmondshire."

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