NHS dental patients turning up at a Wincanton clinic in recent days have been confronted with a notice informing them the practice is soon to go private.

The Wincanton Smile Centre, in the High Street, has posted a letter in the window of the premises letting people know of the changes – although others have said they have not been informed of the plan.

It will be effective from November 1, the notice said, for reasons including an ‘underfunded’ NHS service.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had increased funding for dental care and would set out plans to increase the number of NHS dentists ‘shortly’.

However, the notice posted in Wincanton, signed by practice manager Caz Gillman, read: “As most of our patients will be aware, NHS dentistry is severely underfunded and the rate of NHS dentists closing their doors is unprecedented.

“Here at the Wincanton Smile Centre, we have been proud to have had an NHS contract for so long. However, the time has come where we must convert to a private practice in order to stay open.”

It said children will continue ‘to be seen under the NHS’ and anyone undergoing a current NHS course of treatment would not be affected.

“We understand that this will be difficult for some, especially in the current economic climate, so we have tried to keep our fees as low as possible,” the notice continued.

Patients with appointments will be notified ‘with as much notice as possible’.

A DHSC spokesperson said: “We are making progress to boost NHS dental services with 23% more courses of treatment, meaning 1.7 million more adults and 800,000 more children received NHS dental care.

“We fund more than £3 billion of NHS dentistry a year, have announced plans to increase dental training places by 40% and last week we launched a consultation to better utilise the skills of dental hygienists and therapists.

“We will shortly set out further measures to improve access and increase the number of NHS dentists through our dental recovery plan.”