I went for a check-up today (NHS) for the first time in many years. I was lucky to get that.

Anyhow, as I was about to go, the dentist told me that she was leaving in a few months. It also transpired that they were currently struggling to fill four NHS positions they had vacant and that, when I rang up in a year for the next check, it was to be hoped that they had the dentists available. In the meantime, even emergencies would now have to be treated on a private basis.

The conversation then touched on the money that dentist earned - NHS versus private. I was met with a prompt rebuke that it wasn't about money. It's because of the way that the NHS treats dentists.

I am here to be educated........in what way can a dentist be treated badly by the NHS? I am genuinely curious.

Whatever, the future is looking bleaker and bleaker!