HEALTH chiefs have agreed to hand over almost £1million of Government money to dentists who have signed up to carry out NHS treatment in the area. There had been a question mark hanging over £900,000 the Department of Health had given to North Somerset Pr

HEALTH chiefs have agreed to hand over almost £1million of Government money to dentists who have signed up to carry out NHS treatment in the area.There had been a question mark hanging over £900,000 the Department of Health had given to North Somerset Primary Care Trust (PCT) for dental care.The cash-strapped PCT was understood to be considering spending it on other services. But it has now agreed to divide the money among a number of dentists.The spare £900,000 arose after a number of dental practices in North Somerset dropped out of the new NHS dental contracts introduced on April 1. Prior to the meeting, the PCT had allocated only £7.7m from its total £8.6m budget.The money will be divided among dentists in North Somerset who said they are short of funding. Weston dentist David Houston, of Houston Dental Surgery in Milton Road, said: "More funding is always welcome but I do not think it is enough to cope with the increase in the number of our patients over the last year."It is a case of standing still and we will only be able to meet last year's levels.