Manx Care takes over beleaguered Douglas dental surgery

Manx Care is to manage the dental surgery for an initial 12 months

Manx Care is to take over the running of a dental surgery after its provider handed back its contract to the Isle of Man's healthcare body.

It was announced in August that Regent Health Services, which provides care at Hillside Dental in Douglas, will cease its services from 30 November.

The surgery has about 6,600 registered patients.

Manx Care said it will manage the practice on Ballakermeen Road from 1 December for an initial 12 months.

Patients have been told that they will continue to receive care "as usual" during the crossover period.

Manx Care chief executive Teresa Cope said the surgery had struggled with capacity issues, which had led to some patients "not having timely treatments".

However, she said she was confident her organisation would be able to "provide a stronger offer than what's currently contracted".

The healthcare body was told a number of patients had not been recalled for an examination for two years or more, after a vacancy left one patient list unallocated to a dentist.

A representative said those patients were only able to receive emergency care during that time.

Ms Cope said the takeover would mirror the process undertaken when Manx Care stepped in to run GP services in Ballasalla earlier in the year as that was "a model that could work and we wish to pursue that".

She added that conversations with staff would take place about transferring their employment to the new provider and additional staff would be recruited.

The Manx Care representative said patients were currently unable to contact the practice to book appointments while new software is set up and the provider would instead contact patients to arrange bookings.

The practice will be closed on 30 November and 1 December for the changeover to take place, though urgent treatment will still be available.

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