Rotherham patients requiring emergency dental appointments will be asked to call a new telephone number from next week as the service transfers from NHS Rotherham to the Dental Access Centre.

Rotherham GPs are amongst the first 35 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the country to apply for authorisation to enable them to assume full statutory responsibilities for health care budgets from April 2013.

The new telephone health helpline set up at the end of last year has been extended following the initial six-month pilot. The Single Point of Contact telephone help and advice line was launched in October last year to direct patients to appropriate services to avoid them turning up at Accident and Emergency or the Walk in Centre if their condition is not life threatening or urgent.