Dentist rant
Oh, and while I'm thinking about teeth, I'm sick to the back ones at the road crash that is dentistry in the UK.
I gave up on trying to get an NHS dentist - even the NHS 'find-a-dentist' tool thought I'd need to go an awfully long way to get one. So I went privately to the dentist in the village (who turned out to be quite nice, and seemed pretty competent). The plan was that at least I could get **FIXME on the register there if I was a private patient. It'd also be very handy since it's in easy walking distance from the house.
But when I went to see him again a few weeks ago, he told me he was moving to another practice being set up 'nearby', and that he'd be delighted if I were to transfer with him. (Of course he bloody would, I'm paying private rates.) I said I'd think about it and make a decision before my next appointment in nine months - thinking I'd almost certainly think 'no', since it's literally miles away with no bus service. The senior partner in the practice also gave me a rather unclear photocopied note saying he'd been threatened by the local PCT with the transfer of 2/3 of his NHS caseload to the new practice, which obviously put the whole business in jeopardy.
Yesterday I heard - via a note pinned up in the window of the coffee shop in the village - that the entire practice is going to close. Gah! Maybe the new system of PCT-managed dentistry is going to lead to a net improvement in dental services, but it's getting a lot worse for me.
I gave up on trying to get an NHS dentist - even the NHS 'find-a-dentist' tool thought I'd need to go an awfully long way to get one. So I went privately to the dentist in the village (who turned out to be quite nice, and seemed pretty competent). The plan was that at least I could get **FIXME on the register there if I was a private patient. It'd also be very handy since it's in easy walking distance from the house.
But when I went to see him again a few weeks ago, he told me he was moving to another practice being set up 'nearby', and that he'd be delighted if I were to transfer with him. (Of course he bloody would, I'm paying private rates.) I said I'd think about it and make a decision before my next appointment in nine months - thinking I'd almost certainly think 'no', since it's literally miles away with no bus service. The senior partner in the practice also gave me a rather unclear photocopied note saying he'd been threatened by the local PCT with the transfer of 2/3 of his NHS caseload to the new practice, which obviously put the whole business in jeopardy.
Yesterday I heard - via a note pinned up in the window of the coffee shop in the village - that the entire practice is going to close. Gah! Maybe the new system of PCT-managed dentistry is going to lead to a net improvement in dental services, but it's getting a lot worse for me.