Healthwatch Shropshire
responds to the Government plan to recover NHS dentistry
The NHS and the Government
have published a plan to recover NHS dentistry setting out a major new focus on
prevention and good oral health in young children, and an expansion of dental
workforce.
Healthwatch Shropshire,
the local health and social care champion has been receiving feedback for years
about how people are struggling to access NHS dental care in Shropshire. They
have been sharing this with their parent body, Healthwatch England, who has
used it as evidence to support their work to persuade the government to provide
NHS dentistry that is more accessible and affordable.
What's in the plan?
- NHS dentists will be
given a ‘new patient’ payment of between £15-£50 (depending on treatment
need) to treat around a million new patients who have not seen an NHS
dentist in two years or more.
- People will be able to
see which practices in their local area are accepting new patients on the
NHS website and the NHS App. The government will roll out a marketing
campaign encouraging anyone who has not been seen by a dentist for the
past two years to access treatment.
- A new ‘Smile For Life’
programme will be rolled out to offer parents and parents-to-be advice for
baby gums and milk teeth, with the aim that by the time children go to
school, every child will see tooth brushing as a normal part of their
day.
- Dental vans will help
deliver dental treatment to people in rural and coastal areas.
- A water fluoridation
programme will be rolled, which could reduce the number of tooth
extractions due to decay in the most deprived areas of the country.
Subject to consultation, the programme would enable an additional 1.6
million people to benefit from water fluoridation, first expanding across
the North East.
Lynn Cawley, Healthwatch
Shropshire Chief Officer, said, “I would like to thank all of the people in
Shropshire who have taken the time to share their experiences of accessing NHS
dental care with us. We hope that this plan will improve the ability of
Shropshire residents to access NHS dental care. It is early days and we don’t
yet know how it will affect services in Shropshire but hopefully this will
become clearer. As it does we would still like to hear from people so we can
feed their experiences back to the local NHS and to Healthwatch England to help
build up a picture of how the plan is working.”
Healthwatch England CEO,
Louise Ansari, said "Across England, we have seen major access issues in
NHS dentistry. The rising cost of living has had a real impact, with our latest
data showing that one in five people have avoided going to the dentist because
they can't afford it. A year ago, this figure was one in ten*.
“The dentistry recovery
plan is a good start in addressing these serious problems. To widen access to
NHS dentistry to those experiencing the greatest health inequalities, it’s
vital dentists take up the new premium payments, promote availability of appointments
to new patients and prioritise slots to people most in need.
“We also welcome the move
to incentivise dentists to work in ‘dental deserts’ with golden hellos, to use
dental vans in remote areas and to roll out more prevention schemes for
children.
“However, in the long run
more radical solutions are needed to get NHS dentistry back on track. We
welcome the Government’s to commitment to consulting with the profession on the
contract and urge this to happen as soon as possible.”
“We know that people will
generally welcome the plan, but ultimately, they would like to be be able to
register with a local NHS dentist in the same way as they can with a local GP,
developing a trusted relationship with a dentist who can prevent poor oral
health and treat any new problems or emergencies.”
Healthwatch Shropshire is
the independent health and social care champion in Shropshire. It gathers the
views and experiences of patients, service users, carers, and the general
public about services including hospitals, GPs, mental health services, community
health services, pharmacists, opticians, residential care and children’s
services. It also has statutory powers that it can use to influence
service provision by encouraging improvements.
* Healthwatch EnglandNHS Dental Recovery Plan - our response |
Healthwatch
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