A city dentist claims his practice will be able to offer 6,000 extra NHS appointments a year if granted planning permission to expand.
Peter Chopra, who runs Chopra & Associates in Military Road, Canterbury, is applying for approval for the change of use and conversion of a neighbouring residential property, known as Bakery Cottage, to create two new treatment rooms.
He says it will help meet the daily growing waiting list of patients trying to access NHS care.
In planning documents outling his case, Mr Chopra says: “There is a massive demand for NHS dental care in the Canterbury area and we are currently operating a long waiting list of local residents wanting to access treatment – a list that continues to grow daily.
“Many of the patients are vulnerable and have high health needs and severe problems accessing dental care, in particular.
“The number one reason for children attending A&E and having in-patient admission is for dental-related pain and infection, therefore this additional capacity will help to reduce the burden on local emergency services.
“Essentially, each of the two new surgeries would, in theory, allow us to provide at least 3,000 new NHS appointment slots per year, which will have a significant and direct impact on helping to improve the dental healthcare needs of the local population.”
Mr Chopra says no public funding is being requested to provide the additional capacity as the proposed project will be paid for through private means.
He argues that the property he wishes to merge and convert into additional surgeries was originally part of the same building as the current surgery at 1, Military Road, but divided into two entities at some point in the past.
He adds: “There will be no change in the external look of the property at all. It will retain its character and street scene with alterations to the ground floor being minimal and, even then, it will just be a case of partitioning and minor reconfiguration.”
Chopra Associates has been long established in Canterbury and also has practices in Ashford, Sittingbourne and Swancombe.
In May, Mr Chopra applied to extend his surgery in Sittingbourne to allow up to 200 new patients a month, which is still to be decided.
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He also wants to attract new dentists from India.
“There are just not enough qualified dentists and dental nurses available and any dental staff who may well be available, are unfortunately taking jobs in the private sector and not the NHS,” he says.
