Wairoa resident Shane Dalgliesh was a patient at the clinic and rang to make a booking last Friday for a check-up. He got through to a voicemail message, which stated the practice was no longer taking bookings. “When you walk past you can see the X-ray machine in the window, but there’s no-one there.” Dalgliesh understood there were struggles to find a dentist who would relocate to Wairoa, but he said residents faced challenges of their own. “It’s a significant cost to drive to either Napier or Gisborne – you’d basically have to take a day off work for a check-up. It’s just another obstacle we don’t need.”