New MPs Facing Old Problems - Dental Deserts
- Details
- Published: Monday, 16 December 2024 10:13
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 714
As the professions representatives begin to worry that their post-election meeting with Wes Streeting will be looked back on as a high point, the dental headlines look very familiar.
Homing in on one region that has often featured in the news about dental deserts, there is some good news, and some that is not so good.
First the not so good. As soon as Linda Colla, 76, moved to Ottery St Mary in Devon in 2018, she started looking for a dentist. She soon found that local practices were not accepting new NHS patients, and as a recipient of pension credit, couldn’t afford to go private.
Seven years on Linda has three less teeth, self-extracted in desperation early in 2024, when the pain was making it difficult to eat. She removed her teeth one at a time, telling Devon Live: "It was two back teeth and a canine, and they had quite long roots. It was very painful - but I’ve apparently got a high pain tolerance."
She then reached the limit of her DIY skills and paid £300 to have her partial denture altered. She says she would happily travel over 20 miles to see a dentist - but still has had no luck. She shared her story to raise awareness of the dental crisis facing the south-west of England.
"I’ve been round local dentists, who have told me they can only take a certain amount of NHS patients due to funding, and they can’t take any more," she said.
"The south west is in dire straits. The NHS contacted me a couple of times and asked if I still want to be on the waiting list, and I said of course. Six years later, as far as I know, I’m still on it."
The better news is that one of the NHS Dental Recovery Plan (DRP) initiatives has had a result in Devon.
One part of the DRP launched in February 2024, was the creation of £20,000 ‘golden hello’ payments to recruit NHS dentists to areas that have historically struggled to recruit, or retain them. Funding for up to 240 dentists across England was made available by the Government. 17 were allocated to Devon. To date, one dentist has taken the incentive in the county.
A spokesperson for NHS Devon told the Herald Express that it was too early to know how the level of take-up of the ‘golden hello’ scheme compared with other counties. Asked if the scheme would help it secure the number of dentists it wanted, the spokesperson said the organisation did not usually set specific targets for recruiting NHS dentists. She explained: “Instead of fixed recruitment goals, we aim to achieve reduced unmet dental needs by using strategies like contract flexibility or incentives, such as the golden hello, to attract dentists, particularly in underserved areas.”
The dental access crisis was a doorstep issue in the election and will have been one of the factors in the South West that saw longstanding Conservative MPs ejected, to be replaced in many cases with LibDems. Recently victorious North Devon Liberal Democrat MP Ian Roome, wrote about dentistry in Devon Today when Linda’s story emerged.
He quoted the ONS data showing that 97 per cent of those without a dentist trying to access NHS dental care in England were unable get an appointment. He then wrote: “I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that people in North Devon are turning to DIY dentistry...yet I was. These kinds of situations belong to the Victorian era, and we absolutely cannot accept this as the norm."
He pledged to use every bit of influence he has to make tackling the dental crisis in the area a top priority. He has been appointed as Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dentistry and Oral Health. He offered some ideas about the causes of the problem and observed, “Modest pay rises or incremental funding increases simply won’t solve the deeply rooted issues we face.”
Recruitment and retention were also significant challenges with reports that over half of practices in Devon currently have a vacancy.
He has launched the North Devon Dental Steering Group, which brings together ICB leaders, NHS dentists, dental consultants, local councillors, and other stakeholders.
As well as discussing national, systemic issues, such as the contract and the underfunding of dental care, their main priority was on identifying practical, local solutions to facilitate progress.
Amongst other areas of focus were fast-tracked dental treatment for cancer patients, more oral health promotion through school visits, and the potential for dental training pathways in local schools or colleges.
In the MP’s opinion this would go a good way to increasing access to NHS dentistry in North Devon, and reducing oral health inequalities in local communities.
While accepting that undoing what he described as years of neglect, would not be easy, he felt genuinely optimistic about the potential that the North Devon Dental Steering Group had to enact some positive, noticeable change.
Whether this can ever deliver the kind of dental service that Linda and those in similar situations hope for, remains to be seen.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report