Sheffield NHS Practice Can't Afford Its Patients
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- Published: Wednesday, 07 May 2025 10:03
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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A dental practice in Darnall, Sheffield, that used clawback money to onboard 4000 new patients has told the BBC that it is now struggling to provide continuing care for them due to the withdrawal of funding.
Darnall Dental Clinic in Sheffield is located on the city’s eastern side. It’s an area of significant deprivation where for numerous reasons a high percentage of the population are not regular dental attenders and when they do manage to secure an appointment, often triggered by pain or neglect, they are classified as high needs.
The South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board provided extra funding for Darnall Dental Clinic in 2023 and 2024 to take on new NHS patients. However, the source of the additional funds was "claw-back" money from practices that had fallen short on the delivery of their own NHS contracts.
The provision of such additional funding does not guarantee its availability in future years as dental budgets are fixed centrally.
Dr Vasileios Orliaklis told the BBC: "Our practice, which has already invested £466,000 into expanding the premises, is now facing an extra loss of £544,000 in funding. It’s truly maddening."
Jason Taylor, 45, is one of the new patients. He had already had his teeth extracted in hospital and is booked to have new dentures fitted at Darnall.
"I was embarrassed to leave the house. It took me a long time to find a dentist, and when I got here there was a queue round the block" he recounted.
Dr Oriaklis and his team now face a dilemma with regard to the provision of treatment . "I don’t know whether we can afford to see those patients or make a decision to cut the list. We have to think about the wellbeing of the staff too."
Not surprisingly, the situation has prompted a spike in unwelcome patient behaviour.
Olivia Tanner, one of Darnall Dental Clinic’s nurses who also anchors the reception desk said "It is every day that we get abuse. There’s swearing, shouting, I’ve been spat at. It does feel degrading, especially when this is an industry that you come into to help people."
The practice has around 13,500 NHS patients on its list. Practice Manager Sarah Fletcher said "We have patients that aren’t happy about the wait, they might be waiting for six weeks for the next filling but we explain that for the NHS that’s good going, some practices you’ll need to wait months.
"We’re doing the best we can but they don’t understand the pressure we’re under - and I get it, they vent it in anger, they want to get their teeth fixed, they don’t want a hole in their mouth."
The BBC elicited a typically vague response from an NHS South Yorkshire spokesperson who said: "We are committed to reducing health inequalities and supporting dental practices to provide the best possible access and services within our funding allocation."
Local MP Clive Betts, who has represented the area since 1992 was less evasive. He said "The PAC (Public Accounts Committee) report shows at a national level how UK dentistry is in serious distress. It is absolutely outrageous that this dental practice, when stepping up to offer dental appointments under the NHS, is now having its funding cut."
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