Kent Dental Practice Closing After Over a Century Stuns Staff, Patients

A dental practice in Tunbridge Wells will close. Hill House Dental Care has been open since 1895, but flats will replace the Lonsdale Gardens practice. Patients and employees were quite surprised by this.

The town hall got a flats application last year. Staff only heard about it from KentLive, while patients received letters saying the practice shuts April 17. Many patients must now find new dentists.

Patients have had long relationships with the practice, and the coming closure is a hard blow for them. Dentists can’t work nearby for a year due to contractual clauses.

One dentist said the practice had 15,000 patients, but Bupa claims only 5,000 people regularly use their services. Some staff worked there for 22 years.

Hill House employs around 16 people currently. One patient had visited Hill House since age 17 and is now 100 years old. The practice has some NHS contracts.

Staff thought they’d get a new location but learned this wasn’t true after Christmas. Patients only found out two weeks earlier when they received a closure letter. They feel let down by the company.

Bupa stated they made a difficult decision and tried to find care alternatives. They provided closure information to patients directly and offered support to affected staff.

Bupa knew about the redevelopment site two years ago and got a lease notice in May 2024. They unsuccessfully tried to extend it, and staff learned quickly after that point, they claim. The company says all staff received offers within Bupa.

Bupa wants to keep providing care at St John’s Road, another Tunbridge Wells location. Patient Mike Vos was shocked by the closure letter.

Vos stated Bupa knew about the lease ending, and they should have relocated the dental group. He says there are suitable alternatives and thinks closing with short notice seems off.

Families are losing their trusted dentists due to this. Fear of dentists affects many people, and staff only get three months to find new positions, which isn’t nearly enough time for them.

Where will 10,000 patients go now for dental care? Do existing patients get priority for appointments, and how long must the displaced patients wait now?