Lack of Joined Up Government Damages Access
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- Published: Monday, 10 February 2025 10:04
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Alongside the challenges of their NHS contracts, and recruiting the dental professionals needed to fulfil them, GDP‘s continue to face a variety of other obstacles. Apart from the upcoming rise in NIC contributions, a week‘s news reveals two more headaches for practices struggling to deliver care, in an area already beset with access problems
As dental services struggle to return to pre pandemic levels of activity a clash between them and the schools service has now developed. Post pandemic, an increasing numbers of young people are falling out of education. The result has been a drive to boost attendance figures at schools in an area which are amongst the worst in the whole of Wales. Council meetings have examined ways of improving the numbers.
Senior councillors in Blaenau Gwent received a report on “attendance and exclusions and elective home education.” With the report highlighting of the effects of exclusions, and increased numbers being home educated, a pathway for schools to tackle the problem has been adopted. Director of Education Dr Luisa Munro-Morris explained some of the tactics being used to improve attendance: “One of things we have done is contact all the dental practices in the area and talked to them around how important it that they try and make appointments after school, or first thing in the morning. Because we know that when parents make an appointment at 1pm they just keep the child off for the whole day and there’s no reason for that.”
Practices struggling to improve access may feel that they are being chosen as low hanging fruit to reduce occasional missed sessions, against the more challenging work of reducing exclusions and reversing the rise in home education. Implementation of the pathway comes at a price, as according to the Director of Education: “It works best where a member of staff comes out of the classroom either full or part time and for this is their key area of work.”
Meanwhile a practice in Barry is up against council plans to close a car park. The planned closure of the multi storey facility will have a major effect on Holton Dental Care. Speaking to Barry and District News, Practice manager, Mrs Louise Slimings said: “Nine of our dedicated staff rely on this car park for daily parking along with an average of 40 patients who visit us throughout the day. Our four dentists and support team travel from various locations including Penarth, Llantwit Major, and Cardiff.
"Given that train services to these are infrequent and unreliable I’m concerned that without an alternative parking solution we risk losing essential staff.”
Mrs Slimmings went on to point out that the council’s suggested alternative sites did not have enough capacity, and that the changes would increase costs by about £1500 annually for affected team members.
“Closing this car park without a viable alternative will severely impact our ability to provide essential health care services,” she said.
A dentist at the practice, Dr Simon Ralphs, who expressed his support for the points she made, added: “I’m really concerned regarding the impact the proposal will have on our ability to provide NHS dental care to the residents of Barry and rest of the Vale. The vast majority of our staff and patients use the car park every day.”
There are regular reports of councils expressing their concerns about the lack of dental access. In Wales where both of these councils operate, there is a growing campaign to try and solve the problem by building a new dental school. GDPUK has also reported on the dire state of relations between the Secretary for Health and Social Care and BDA there. The councils involved and health ministry are controlled by the same party.
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