Hillside Dental Practice to be taken over by Manx Care

Private provider hands back contract

Manx Care will take over the management of Hillside Dental Practice, in Douglas, from December.

It follows the private provider’s decision to hand back its contract.

The health body says this will secure the future provision of NHS dental services.

In a statement it adds: “We appreciate that this news may cause some uncertainty for patients, however, this decision has been made to ensure that service provision continues to run as smoothly as possible for these individuals.”

Manx Care says it was made aware earlier this month of a number of patients who had not been recalled for an examination for two years or more.

This was due to a vacancy at the practice which had left one patient list unallocated – those patients were only able to receive emergency care as a result.

The statement continued: “We are also aware that there may be other patients who are now considered overdue for an examination, as since handing their contract back in the summer, the provider has been completing open courses of treatment and offering emergency treatment only to the remaining patients.

“We would like to reassure patients that we are mindful of the above issues and are working with colleagues at the practice to ensure patient information is transferred to Manx Care with as little disruption as possible.”

Manx Care says it will endeavour to ensure patients are seen as quickly as possible once it has taken over which it is doing for an initial 12 month period.

Patients will be contacted by Manx Care to arrange their next appointments but have been warned it will take time to set up it’s a new booking system.

Some of the staff currently working at Hillside will be offered employment with Manx Care.

The practice will be closed on Thursday, 30 November and Friday, 1 December to allow for the changeover to occur.