THIRTY five thousand dental patients across south Worcestershire have been left fighting for a place at just four NHS dentists.

According to a Worcester News investigation, half of National Health Service dentists in the region stopped providing NHS provision on Saturday, leaving just four practices accepting new patients.

We reported yesterday how the move to new contracts on April 1 has left 35,000 NHS dental patients in the south of the county without provision.

They will now be left to compete for places, pay to go privately or go without treatment.

We were forced to trawl The Phone Book and Yellow Pages ringing every dentist in Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich, Pershore and Upton-upon-Severn after South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust refused to give us a list of where NHS provision was still available.

Of the 34 dentists we contacted - a further four were unavailable - 11 admitted they had been forced to reject new contracts which would have paid them per patient they treated rather than the work they carried out.

All have claimed that the way the calculations were done would have left them short of cash.

Eleven said they were still providing NHS treatment - although only four are accepting new patients - while a further nine were already operating privately before April 1. One is still in negotiations with the PCT and two declined to comment.

Sue Morris, who runs RAJ Morris dental practice in Droitwich is among those to have opted out of the NHS contracts.

"I believe that there are more patients affected than the PCT are letting on," she said.

"I think as time goes on more practices will choose to opt out too. It's the children that they (the Government) have let down."

When we asked South Worcestershire PCT to confirm the details, a spokesman said the Department of Health was compiling a national picture and did not want local lists published.

When shown our list, she added: "I am unable to confirm or deny this information."

Previously, the PCT has claimed the majority of dentists in south Worcestershire have signed the new contracts and that 74 per cent of the registered NHS population of 134,000 would still be able to access NHS care.

And they say they will be taking immediate steps to replace the lost capacity by re-commissioning new services in Malvern and Droitwich within the next few months.

l Anyone wishing to join a new dental practice should phone the NHS dental telephone helpline on 01905 760111 for advice, rather than ringing individual practices.

Patients needing emergency dental treatment, should phone 0845 4647 for the nearest NHS dental access centre or contact the dental helpline.

Out-of-hours advice is available by calling 0845 609 0669 (6.30pm - 8.00pm weekdays and all day at weekends and bank holidays).