Thousands Deprived Of Access To NHS Dentistry

Thu, 29 Nov 2007

Over a quarter of a million people across England have been denied access to NHS dentistry since the implementation of Government reforms in April 2006, according to new figures.

Data from the Information Centre for health and social care revealed that 27.88 million patients saw an NHS dentist in the 24 months leading up to June 30 2007 - 266,000 fewer than the 28.15 million seen in the year up to March 31 2006.

The Government's introduction of a new dental contract, aimed at improving dental services in England, has been labelled as a "remarkable failure for the Government" by Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Norman Lamb .

"It has achieved precisely the opposite of what was intended and what patients need," he said.

"People still cannot find an NHS dentist in much of the country and in many cases the new system doesn't provide enough money for dentists to treat NHS patients towards the end of the financial year."

"When will the Government accept that its reforms aren't working and act to reverse the decline of access to NHS dentistry ?" he blasted.

The figures showed that just over 70 per cent of children in England have visited an NHS dentist in the last two years.

Meanwhile the highest proportion of adults recorded was in the north east at 59.5 per cent, while the lowest (40 per cent) was in the south central region of the country.

Shadow health minister, Mike Penning, commented: "Labour have shamefully mismanaged NHS dentistry ."

"When they came to power they promised everyone would have access to an NHS dentist but the situation has only got worse."

But chief dental officer Dr Barry Cockcroft hit back at the criticism, saying that the changes were always going to be challenging for the NHS and for dentists and "will inevitably take time to bed down".

"Given that some 4 per cent of previous services had to be replaced during the year, it is to the credit of the NHS and dentists that access has remained broadly stable during this transitional period," he added.
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