NHS misses dentists’ deadline

DENTISTS in Oldham were left furious when they were summoned to court by the council for not paying their business rates.

NHS Oldham is supposed to pay the bill for them but missed the deadline.

Steve Sutcliffe is executive director of finance at NHS Oldham. He said: “It is true that we, along with other primary care trusts around the country, pay the business rates on behalf of the majority of the dentists — and indeed the GPs — in Oldham.

“Rather than paying them over 10 or 12 months from April, we pay them all up front at the beginning of each year. The payment this year was made to Oldham Council towards the end of April.

“The issue was that the court summons were automatically generated by computer at the beginning of May at the same time as the money was being paid into the right account. So by the time the dentists received the letters the money was in the account.

“We have assured the dentists that the summons letters have all been cancelled.”