A dental clinic in Bristol experienced large queues on February 6, 2025, after it announced it would be enrolling new NHS patients.

In February 2024, police officers were called to manage a queue of hundreds of people trying to secure NHS dental care at the newly-opened Saint Paul’s Dental Practice in Bristol. To commemorate the practice’s first anniversary, it said it would be accepting 100 more NHS patients.

Akin to the scenes in 2024, the practice saw over 100 potential patients queuing along Ashley Road, outside the clinic.

Saint Paul’s Dental Practice took over a Bupa Dental Care site that was closed in June 2023. It was one of 85 practices across the country to close that year. Following a successful public campaign to reopen the site, SGA Services Ltd took over Saint Paul’s Dental Practice in 2024.

Speaking to Bristol Live, the operations manager, Shivani Bhandri, said, “It’s not as bad as last year. We can only accommodate 100 people but I can see there’s more than 100 outside. So we can’t help them, we’re just a small practice. We can’t solve the problem, but we are here to help.”

Gauri Pradhan, the principal dentist at the clinic, stated, “It’s desperate. The queue is not as large, but you can see the need is evidently still there. It’s total neglect.”

Gauri said people had travelled from across the country to access NHS dental care, including as far as Cornwall and Wales.

Wes Streeting, health secretary, visited the patients gathered outside Saint Paul’s Dental Practice in February 2024. He said it was ultimately “up to politicians to fix the crisis” and pledged that the Labour party had “a serious plan for rescuing and rebuilding the National Health Service.”

Shawn Charlwood, chair of the British Dental Association’s (BDA) General Dental Practice Committee, said, “We have a new government, but it feels like more of the same for NHS dentistry.

“Wes Streeting says he wants to take the NHS ‘back to basics’. Ending scenes that belong outside bakeries in the Soviet bloc would be a good start.

“Making promises won’t restore access to millions, only action will.”

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