ANOTHER East Lancashire dentist is on the verge of going private but health chiefs have said up to 8,000 more places are on the way.

An NHS boss at Blackburn with Darwen NHS Primary Care Trust said its dentists at an unamed practice have said they no longer wanted to treat adult NHS patients.

The move would see about 2,000 adult patients left without NHS treatment for each dentist at the practice deepening the dental crisis which has seen patients turned away because of full lists.

This would further swell the list of 4,000 people who are waiting to be placed with a dentist in the borough. Children will not be affected.

But Peter Lewenz, primary care commissioning manager at the PCT, said the authority hoped to set up a new 6,000 place practice in Darwen and place another dentist in the town's new health centre, which would also create more spaces. He declined to name the new practice. He said a new contract meant some dentists could cut numbers while others could increase their list of NHS patients and 6,300 places are available at two practices opened in Blackburn last year.

But Roy Davies, a member of Blackburn with Darwen Council's health scrutiny panel, said: "I think we need as many new places as we can possibly get because there is a lot of people paying for private dentistry. Dentists can make a fortune, it is no wonder they want to go private."

A new contract for dentists comes into force in April and from that time the PCT and not central Government will be responsible for finding enough places.

Mr Lewenz said: "We are in discussion with the practice which has indicated that it wants to de-register its adult NHS patients. At the moment we are in negotiations with all practices. Some want to take more patients some want to reduce their numbers. If a dentist reduces their commitment the funding goes with the patient and gets released to the PCT and we can go somewhere else to find additional services."

He said a three-dentist practice in Darwen, which would register about 6,000 people, was pencilled in to open in June with another dentist expected for the health centre in April.

He said: "We are excited that we have managed to secure funding for an additional practice. He said the new practices in Railway Road and Preston New Road in Blackburn were taking time to allocate new patients.