DOZENS of people queued outside a Launceston dental practice on Monday to register for NHS treatment. While welcoming the new NHS service to the town, several people were unhappy with the amount of time it took to register patients and the lack of information provided.

Dental Dimensions has been running for the last two years at Castle Street, Launceston, with Dr Andrew Crighton as the principal dentist. The clinic has gained an excellent reputation and has recently been nominated and come second for various awards.

Earlier this year, North Cornwall Primary Care Trust approached Dental Dimensions with a view to creating a small NHS dental service in Launceston. The new service is going to be called Vital Dental Service. Two new dentists have been taken on and two new surgeries have been created.

The NHS treatment will be available in February and Dr Crighton said they hoped to provide treatment for 1,000 to 2,000 patients.

People were able to register for the NHS treatment from 9am on Monday morning. The registration was held during the Christmas period as the practice was not doing any clinical work.

One prospective patient began queuing at 8.30am and said that there were at least 100 people waiting to register. The gentleman, who did not wish to be named, said: "It took 20 minutes to process one person."

Registered disabled, the gentleman said he was unable to find out what proof of his disability he needed: "I stood there for an hour in the cold. It's a total fiasco. I thought, I can't stand there any more and I've come home."

Dr Crighton explained that to register people needed to visit the practice in person and fill out their personal details and medical history. Patients also had to pay for their initial appointment when they made the booking. He also explained that those exempt from paying had to show evidence — a HC1 form, available from the Job Centre.

However on Monday, a number of people were unaware that they needed to have a HC1 form when registering and as the Job Centre was closed, were unable to register.

Another local man commented: "It's very disorganised, unfortunately."

Dr Crighton said that although they knew there would be a certain amount of interest they were "surprised" by the response. He said that there was a "huge need in this area" for NHS dentistry.

He added: "We're obviously surprised by the demand. People can get a little bit irritated but there's a certain amount of paperwork to be done. It takes time. Some people are registering whole families. It's not straight forward.

"There's also things people need to know as well when booking appointments like payment policy."

Dr Crighton said that when offering the NHS service they were going "to do the best we can and try and treat people as required."

The practice was also open for registration on Tuesday and Wednesday.