A SOUTHAMPTON NHS dentists' group has revealed it is going private - leaving hundreds of patients scrambling to find a new practice.

Portswood-based JJ Carroll and Associates wrote to nearly 2,000 patients announcing they would no longer deal with NHS patients after September 15.

Now health chiefs are urging patients of the Brookvale Road surgery to call a special hotline if they need to find a new practice.

The letter sent out by the centre explains that it found it "difficult to work within the NHS and provide the level of care that we would wish to offer''.

One patient, who did not want to be named, said: '"I need to be able to see a dentist regularly.

"I phoned them up immediately as I was worried about my children, to be told that if I paid £11.75 a month I could be kept on the books and so would my children.

"As I am registered disabled I don't have that kind of money to spend.''

The mother-of-four, aged 39, added: "I think the way the practice has treated its patients is terrible. Imagine an old person receiving this letter. They would never be able to afford the amount to go private and finding a new dentist is a nightmare."

NHS figures show that more than 250,000 people in south-east Hampshire are not registered with a dentist and in February this year 200 people queued up for 100 places with Whiteley Dental Practice.

Mary Mitchell, spokesman for Southampton City Primary Care Trust, said: "As dentists are independent contractors they are free to do as they choose and can pick to leave the NHS at any time.

"This is a national problem, not just one confined to Hampshire.

"At the moment there are six practices in Southampton who are taking on NHS patients, so we are better off than some parts of the country.

"We run a dental helpline to help people with finding a NHS dentist and if they need urgent dental treatment.

"Anyone who needs to find an NHS dentist in Southampton should call 023 8033 8336."

J.J. O'Carroll & Associates Dental Centre declined to comment.

A spokesman for the British Dental Association said: "The increase in private dentistry has been prompted largely by lack of investment in NHS dentistry.

"Under current NHS arrangements, dentists must fund practice development through personal borrowing or practice profits.

"As investment in NHS dentistry falls, more and more dentists see private work as the only way of investing in their practice.''