Blackhall Colliery Dental Practice

I’ve received advance notification that the dental practice in Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery is scheduled to close at the end of this month. I understand that letters are to be circulated locally at the end of the week.

Please note the comments below received from the Primary Care Manager at NHS England:

We are writing to make you aware that one of our local dental providers, Mr Abrahams has taken the decision to retire and as a result has given notice to end his contract for the delivery of NHS dental services from 45 Middle Street, Blackhall Colliery, Hartlepool TS27 4EE.  The practice will therefore close on 31 August 2020. 

We appreciate that this is short notice and the loss of service will be of some concern to you, but I want to assure you that there are other dental practices in the local area that offer dental care for NHS patients details of which are being shared with patients.   However, you will be aware that Covid-19 has impacted on how NHS dental services have been delivered.  

With effect from 8 June 2020 dental practices across the region were given the go ahead to start seeing patients for some face-to-face appointments. For many practices, this has been a phased approach due to the need to undertake the work required to prioritize the safety of patients and staff. Risk assessments were required to identify modifications and working practices that need to be adopted before a full range of dental treatment can be offered.  However, due to the nature of the service where a significant proportion of the treatments undertaken generate an aerosol, the infection control precautions required to ensure the safety of patients and staff have inevitably slowed the pace at which clinicians are able to work.  Practices are therefore having to prioritize patients with the most urgent needs first. It will likely be some months before the services return to providing care in a similar manner to that which patients previously experienced and will be dependent on the further easing of COVID-19 control measures. We are therefore asking all patients for their understanding and co-operation during this time. 

 

Our intention is to review the impact of the closure of Mr. Abraham’s practice to inform our future commissioning plans as we are committed to maintain access for patients.  We will of course engage with you in the development of these plans and will be in touch in due course to discuss further.  In the interim, please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information or have any queries or concerns regarding this matter.