Ukrainian refugee mother who couldn't find an NHS dentist pays £254 to travel ... trends now
A Ukrainian refugee travelled almost 2,000 miles by plane, bus and train for dental treatment in her home city - because she could not access NHS dental care or pay for private treatment.
Natalia Nehreba, 36, said she was 'shocked' at being told urgent root canal treatment would cost £800 in Wiltshire, where she has been living since the Russian invasion of her homeland.
Instead, she flew from Bristol to Poznan in Poland on a £30 return budget airline ticket, before taking a bus from Poznan to the Ukrainian city of Lviv, 50 miles inland from the border.
The journey, which cost £30 each way, was followed by a bargain £7, 13-hour rail journey across Ukraine to Dnipro. The city is just 62 miles from the front line and was on the receiving end of a Russian bombardment in December.
Mrs Nehreba said she had been compelled to undertake the arduous journey with daughter Agnia, three, because she had been in 'excruciating' pain but 'couldn't find' an NHS dentist.
Natalia Nehreba (pictured with her daughter Agnia) travelled almost 2,000 miles by plane, bus and train for dental treatment in her home city - because she could not access NHS dental care or pay for private treatment
Natalia Nehreba, 36, (pictured with Agnia) said she was 'shocked' at being told urgent root canal treatment would cost £800 in Wiltshire, where she has been living since the Russian invasion of her homeland
'It was very terrible because I took paracetamol and ibuprofen every day', she added. '(But) my pain didn't go away.
Dnipro is very dangerous, and I was very worried when I went (back) but my pain was very strong. I could not stay here.'
A television journalist in her homeland, Mrs Nehreba and her daughter were initially taken in by a sponsor in Chippenham after fleeing Ukraine. They now live in a rented house in Corsham, but Mrs Nehreba has struggled to find work that fits within her daughter's nursery hours in the UK, meaning she could not afford to pay privately for treatment.
Friend Liz Taylor, 67, who runs the local Bybrook Homes for Ukraine initiative to help Ukrainians in need, paid £60 for Mrs Nehreba to have a consultation at her own private dentist, where they were told the troublesome tooth could be extracted for £300 or successfully treated for £800.
Mrs Taylor said: 'Natalia sat bolt upright in shock when she heard the cost. Then she said 'I will have to fly home to Ukraine to be treated'.
'She didn't want to lose her tooth but she couldn't afford the cost for treatment privately, and she didn't want to take money off anybody else to pay for it either.'
Mrs Taylor, from Chippenham, Wiltshire, said the incident
