AN Alton man has lodged a formal complaint against what he sees as the failure of the Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) to provide adequate NHS dental provision for children in the Alton area. Philip Page has been outraged by the PCT's refusal to allow a local practice to engage in a selective contract to treat children only under the NHS. While the practice in question considers adult provision to be unviable under the new NHS contract, it was quite happy to continue treating children. But Hampshire's policy appears to be "all or nothing" and the practice has withdrawn its service entirely. Concerned over the plight of families who cannot afford private treatment for their children, Mr Page is urging the PCT to reconsider the decision. But Hampshire PCT believes that to allow children-only NHS contracts could encourage discrimination, leading to pressure on parents to register privately with the same practice. A fully engaged NHS provider until September 2005, the Watercress House Dental practice in Alton decided to discontinue adult provision because the new contract, brought in this April, was to change the method of funding. "We were not able to provide the level of treatment under the financing offered for adults. It was felt to be uneconomical for a practice of this size and would have been a nightmare to administer," explained practice manager Denise Shaw. "But where the children were concerned, it was about the principle of providing affordable dental provision, it was not about the money." As such the practice had continued to treat children under the NHS until April this year and had applied to Hampshire PCT for a renewed contract on that basis. But the application had been refused on local PCT policy grounds. According to Mrs Shaw, the PCT had been willing to offer a contract based on practice activity during a nationally determined 'reference year' 2003/04 when the practice had offered full NHS service, but had refused funding for a partial contract. The decision, she said, had come as a disappointment to practice dentists Marcello Tuloni and Majid Farshchi who prided themselves on providing "very high quality, affordable dentistry in Alton". As a parent, Philip Page was one of many to receive a letter stating that his five-year old son could no longer receive NHS treatment at the Watercress House practice. Outraged on hearing the reasons for the withdrawal of service, Mr Page contacted the PCT asking it to explain its decision, especially as there is a shortage of NHS dentists within the Alton area. The PCT replied that a practice was entitled to an NHS contract covering the services that it had historically provided. "This surprised us as our son had been treated under the NHS while we had been treated as independent patients," said Mr Page ,who then asked for an explanation of the financial and clinical criteria upon which their decision was based. In the meantime he had contacted local MP Michael Mates who was told by the PCT that Department of Health guidance did not encourage child-only contracts - a statement that contradicted a letter from Minister of State for Health Rosie Winterton,who told Mr Mates that the regulations did allow dentists to provide services solely to children, provided they had the full agreement of the PCT. What was even more alarming for Mr Page was that the PCT recommended that his son join another practice in Alton which, at the time, did not have government funding in place for NHS treatment and would only offer treatment under the NHS on Tuesdays. The alternative was to travel to Bordon or Farnham. While Philip Page says he can in fact pay for his son to have private dental treatment, his concern is one of principal for those children whose parents cannot afford it. Alton Liberal Democrats chairman Ruth Bright, is equally aware of the impact of the new contract on NHS dental provision in the Alton area. As a young mum, she has experienced first hand the difficulty of trying to procure free treatment offered under the NHS for expectant mothers, and talks of people having to travel as far afield as Andover and Basingstoke for emergency treatment. "The NHS plan announced by the government in 2001 stated that everyone should have access to NHS dentistry, but five years on and the provision is not there. People are entitled to ask for some clarity - is there an NHS service or not. In a fairly affluent area like this, it appears there is not." Speaking in defence of Hampshire PCT, dental lead for the northern area Jane Powell told The Herald: "I do not accept the notion that adult NHS dental services are not viable under the new contract. The vast majority of NHS dentists here and elsewhere in the country treat children and adults very successfully. "The Department of Health strongly encourages PCTs to avoid the discrimination that occurs if children can only be seen as NHS patients when their parents register privately with a practice. "Hampshire PCT therefore decided to only offer new NHS dental contracts if they covered both adults and children. We believe this equality of access is an important principle. If practices withdraw from NHS dentistry, we use the money they would have received from the NHS to buy capacity from other dentists." "We recently increased our contract with another practice in Alton to offer more access to NHS dentistry. We keep local dental provision under constant review and will continue to respond to local difficulties in the best way we can."