Drakes Dental Care in Whalley Range branch to close

Customers at Whalley Range-based Drakes Dental Care have been told of plans to move to the New Bank Road branch.

The news has come as a blow to many customers who use the Whalley Range branch which is run by Smart Dental Care.

The company said the decision was made as NHS funding did not keep up with the costs of running a modern dental service.

He also said patients can visit one of its other branches on Richmond Terrace in the city centre.

Customers were asked to complete a ‘Clinic Relocation Survey’ which informed people about the decision to move across town off Preston New Road.

The move will take place in October.

Drakes Dental Care, which was set up by a Blackburn-based company, was acquired by Smart Dental Care, which has a head office in Manchester, in 2021.

Roe Lee councilor Saj Ali said: “There is a lot of concern from local patients and staff about the move.

“This dentist has been here for many decades under different brands.

“It’s ideally located for people who live in this vicinity. It will be very difficult for people to travel around the city.

“It’s a requirement that a dentist has to stay open here or if they want to sell they can give it to someone else to run.

“As a councillor, I am concerned for local residents, not just in Roe Lee, but also for people in Bastwell and Little Harwood who use the services here.

“I don’t think closing this dentist should be an option especially with the lack of facilities in this area.”

The group said patients will have a choice of locations to access NHS services.

It will continue to operate the same NHS dentistry capacity from its three remaining Smiles Spa sites located at 128/130 Accrington Road, Blackburn, LA Southworth and Associates based at 21 Richmond Terrace and Drakes Dental Care at 44 New Banks Road.

Suken Shah, managing director at Smart Dental Care, said the decision to relocate was not taken lightly and they had done everything they could to maintain services.

Mr Shah said: “The remuneration paid by the NHS has not met the costs of running a modern dental service.

“Many dentists have left the NHS entirely to go fully private or left the UK to work in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

“Many experienced NHS dentists have retired following the Covid pandemic; as a result there is a real shortage of dentists willing to provide NHS dentistry particularly in Blackburn.

“Drakes Dental Care is proposing to merge smaller practices together into larger practices in order to continue to maintain NHS services which would otherwise be uneconomic to operate and to continue to invest in NHS dentistry “.

He added: “NHS dentistry as a whole is under huge pressure.”

A local resident who lives nearby said: “It’s a well-loved local dentist and a lot of people locally will be worried that they now have to travel across town.”