A DENTAL practice in Worle has closed because of 'changes to NHS contracts'. Hedley House Dental Centre in the High Street is closing its doors from June. Patients have been advised to use the company's other dental centre in Oxford Street, Weston. The cl

A DENTAL practice in Worle has closed because of 'changes to NHS contracts'.Hedley House Dental Centre in the High Street is closing its doors from June.Patients have been advised to use the company's other dental centre in Oxford Street, Weston.The closure has been put down to new NHS contracts which mean practices get a fixed amount of funding for the year based on a survey of work they carried out from October 2004-September 2005.A letter to patients says: "It has not been possible to keep the practice in Worle fully staffed."Andrew Jeavons-Fellows, business manager for Integrated Dental Holdings, which owns both centres, said: "The new contracts and the amount of money made available has meant the only solution was to merge the two buildings."It is a shame the closure was necessary from a location point of view but because patients no longer have to register with one dentist and can make an appointment with any dentist at anytime, we can still see all the patients from one centre.