Telford dental surgery reports patients 'giving up' on NHS places

A dental surgery has more than 500 NHS spaces available - but is struggling to find patients to fill those slots. The manager of Serene Dental, in Donnington, Telford, said people appeared to have given up trying to find appointments - or perhaps could not afford them. "We've done 4,000 leaflet drops, we're on Facebook and we just are not getting the patients in the door," practice manager Angela Mayhew said. A spokesperson for NHS England said the organisation has "delivered hundreds of thousands more dental appointments compared to last year", adding that they "know there is far more to do". It is in sharp contrast to scenes elsewhere in the country - in Bristol in 2025, prospective patients queued outside dental practices in the hopes of registering as an NHS patient. Serene Dental has patients coming from as far afield as Bristol, Chester - and even Edinburgh. "It's the first time in a long, long time that we've got a shortage of NHS patients," Mayhew said. "I think [people] have just got fed up of ringing everywhere," she added. Another explanation, Mayhew said, is affordability. "If they needed, for example, a crown, bridge or a denture, you're looking at £300 plus," she expl