RESIDENTS who need urgent dental care can receive help at a new out of hours centre in Redditch.

From Wednesday April 1, anyone with urgent dental care requirements on weekends or Bank Holidays can phone 111 or search for NHS 111 online.

Here, people can outline their dental problem and they will either be able to speak to a clinician for advice, or be put in touch with one of the out of hours dental providers across the West Midlands.

The location of the Redditch centre is disclosed to patients when an appointment is made. 

The new system has been developed after public engagement and consultation with dental patients, dentists, healthcare workers, carers and public health professionals who have all commented on how they think urgent out of hours care should work, and where.

Nuala Woodman of NHS England and NHS Improvement said: “There is nothing worse than having a dental problem at the weekend or Bank Holiday when everything is closed. Our new system will be able to advise on pain relief or to put people in touch with their closest out of hours dental surgery for urgent treatment.

Previously, out of hours dental services had no appointment system and were not always staffed meaning confusion and disappointment for people who wished to access the service. Our engagement and consultation has shown that people welcome the straightforwardness of this system as well as the locations of the surgeries.”

The new urgent out of hours service does not affect any other NHS dental services – daytime appointments and community dentistry are unaffected by this change.