Blunder forces dental patients out of town (From Warrington Guardian)

Blunder forces dental patients out of town

8:10am Thursday 29th November 2012 in News

PATIENTS needing emergency dental treatment in the last month had to travel up to 10 miles to St Helens or Widnes after a blunder by health chiefs.

The mix-up occurred after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) raised concerns about new premises meeting standards as dental services moved from Garven Place Clinic to the new £7m Bath Street Health and Wellbeing Centre, Legh Street.

It meant Warrington was left with no emergency dental care for almost two weeks.

A spokesman for Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Trust, who provide dental services in the town, said: “There was a slight delay between moving out of Garven Place Clinic and the full opening of our services at the new premises, due to some technical checks that were outstanding and the need to ensure full compliance with the CQC registration process for our services.

“We apologise for any inconvenience as this caused some disruption during the transition period but we have taken all possible steps to minimise the impact on patients by providing services at alternative locations and offering additional appointments to ensure there are no significant delays to treatment.”

The trust added there were no additional costs during the period, which ran from November 9 to 21, and emergency services were now running as normal.

An NHS Warrington spokesman said it regretted any inconvenience and expected Bridgewater to ‘report back regarding the results of the transfer’.