"Problems at the dentist"

My husband was happy to finally find an NHS dentist 10 miles from our home. He has a fear of dentists after a bad experience years ago and so I was thrilled when he finally plucked up the courage to see one.

We found a surgery in September 2009, registered and had an appointment for the next month, 7 months on, he has had 3 appointments, 2 cancelled just before the appointment, therefore losing pay from work as he had already booked the time off and the third appointment they waited until he got there and then announced that the appointment was cancelled as the dentist "had to go out". I think this is a very poor service and as my husband quite rightly pointed out, because they cannot in my husbands case manage simple administrative tasks like booking an appointment and keeping it.

I myself work for an NHS GP surgery and of course there is staff sickness or days you may have to cancel a surgery. An alternative appointment with a different GP on the same day would be made on the same day or the day after with apologies made by telephone earlier in the day.

There is no way my husband will go back for a fourth time and probably he will not attempt to register with a dentist again and therefore I feel from this experience his teeth will suffer.