A dental surgery which shut down permanently earlier this month went under with almost £1m in debts - including owing a six-figure sum to the NHS.

Manor House dental practice in Long Stratton treated its last patients on August 5 and went into voluntary liquidation.

Now, documents filed on its Companies House profile have revealed the surgery owes £992,800 to a host of different organisations.

A large chunk of this debt, £444,245 in total, is owed to NHS England.

The surgery, which was run by Simply Smile, also owed more than half-a-million pounds - £537,410 - to a company listed as Simply Smile UK Ltd.

The company runs a number of surgeries in the region, including a private practice in Long Stratton and sites in Dereham, Stalham and Ely.

Each practice is registered as its own individual company, with Simply Smile Manor House Limited appointing Opus LLP as its liquidator.

An NHS spokesman in the East of England said: "We are committed to ensuring everyone can access high quality dental care across Norfolk, and are working closely with dental providers to improve access to services, including inviting NHS contract holders to take on additional activity.

"We are looking into the closure of Manor House dental surgery and will be working with contract holders to outline how we can provide accessible and effective dental provision in the area.

“Urgent and emergency dental care is available for those who need it, and people should continue to use the NHS 111 service for advice on where to go.”

Alison Thomas, county councillor for Long Stratton, said the amount owed to the NHS was concerning - and questioned how patients who paid ahead for treatment would be reimbursed.

Mrs Thomas, who chairs the council's health scrutiny committee said: "This is a great concern and something that we are due to look at in the coming months.

"We will be asking what there is in place to make sure patients, in particular, will not just end up on a long list of creditors.

"We will also be question what can be put in place to make sure other surgeries do not become financially unviable and go out of business owing money that should have been going towards giving people access to safe dental treatment."

A spokesperson for Opus said it was too early to comment on the debts.