South West waiting lists and waiting times for NHS dental appointments on the increase

48,000 Devon and Cornwall patients are waiting an average of 477 days to get an NHS dental appointment, an increase in the 2016 numbers of 18,508 patients and 357 days.
Councillor Loic Rich said in an interview: “This is an issue that I have been aware of for a long time. It has been in the news recently with reports that people in Bodmin have been facing a round trip to Redruth to see an NHS dentist. We had a report from NHS England, which set out their plan for Cornwall. It was looking at dentistry but wasn’t really addressing the scale of the problem. It is important to do things outside the NHS to promote oral health, but an NHS dentist is the best person to get advice on how to look after your teeth. In local schools children are now brushing their teeth in the classroom, which is great, but they need to be able to see a dentist as well.”
Chair of General Dental Practice at the British Dental Association, Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, said: “Councillors in Cornwall are showing the kind of leadership we really need to see from Westminster. The crisis in NHS dentistry is now hitting communities from Cornwall to Cumbria. Underfunding and a failed contract have left dental practices without dentists, and our patients are seeing the result. The official line is recruitment problems are just anecdotal, even though the government’s own surveys show over a million new patients tried and failed to access care last year. Aren’t a million anecdotes enough to make ministers wake up to this problem?”
Joe Hendron, practicing dentist, said: “The UDA (units of dental activity) contract is bad for patients and bad for dentistry. The capped budget for dentistry restricts career progression and makes it more difficult for associates to become practice owners, as does the recent increase in control of practices by corporate businesses. This is challenging the retention of dentists in the profession. Currently the NHS contract reform project does not provide a sound business model. Much more thought needs to be given if it is to be successful.”