Few dental practices accept NHS patients

 

NHS faces ‘exodus’ of dentists

Long-term problems exacerbated by Covid

Mark Jones, a Unite workplace representative has helped kick start a national campaign for more funding for dental care. It comes after residents of a small rural Suffolk village lost their last remaining dental practice that provided dental treatments on the NHS.

The lack of access to dental care, which has been a concern for more than 15 years in some areas, has worsened during the pandemic, with dentists exiting the profession in large numbers, leaving it “hanging by a thread”, according to a British Dental Association (BDA) leader.

According to Healthwatch, the statutory body that represents patients, lack of access to NHS dentistry has “exploded as an issue for people over the last 18 months”. Patients needing urgent care are left in “excruciating pain” – with one reporting they had pulled out their own tooth – and many are forced to go private. Using NHS Digital data, last December Healthwatch said only 11 per cent of the more than 5,000 dental practices in England were accepting new adult NHS patients, and only 17 per cent took on new patients.

Regional inequality

The headline figure masked large regional and sub-regional variations. A quarter of North East and Yorkshire practices accepted adult patients. But in the North West and the South West, that figure dropped to 1 per cent.

Only 4 per cent of North West practices accepted children.

Healthwatch North Yorkshire found that of the 77 NHS practices in the area, only two would take on new adult patients for NHS treatment. Healthwatch Blackburn reported that all the 21 practices in its area on the NHS website were refusing to take on NHS patients for the foreseeable future. In May and June, Healthwatch York also found not a single practice taking on NHS patients.

 York Central MP Rachael Maskell, who prior to entering Parliament was the National Officer for Health at Unite, has long warned of an NHS crisis in her constituency. Referring to a pre-pandemic Healthwatch report, she said: “46 per cent of people in York could not find an NHS dentist and 45 per cent of those searching had been looking for more than two years. I can testify to this from the amount of correspondence I get on the matter.

“In talking to the BDA, around 30 per cent of dental nurses are unvaccinated so could leave the profession by the end of March, and many dentists are leaving NHS dentistry or the profession altogether.”

Heightened by pandemic

Although the crisis has been heightened by the pandemic – with dentists forced to drastically reduce the appointments they can offer because of the need for restrictive PPE and distancing measures – it stems from the 2006 introduction of a controversial new contract for dentists paying them for activity rather than patient numbers.

As far back as 2007  just 13 per cent of surgeries in the North West were taking on new patients – despite the new system being meant to create more places. And in Leeds, nearly a quarter of the city’s 138 dental practices had gone private.

The number of dentists providing NHS care in England fell from 23,733 at the end of 2020 to 21,544 at the end of January this year. A BBC article on the crisis, quoted one patient, forced to wait for treatment for over a year, who used a metal file and superglue to perform her own treatment.

That exodus is “just the tip of the iceberg”, according to the BDA, which warned that “NHS dentists who have never contemplated working outside the system are now looking to the exit”. Its December survey suggested over 40 per cent of dentists are now likely to change career or seek early retirement in the next 12 months.

Over half stated they are likely to reduce their NHS commitment. One in 10 thought their practice will close in the next 12 months. The government has imposed a target of resuming 85 per cent of pre-Covid activity but there was no increase in spending for dental care in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s package of extra NHS funding in his budget of October last year.

“Years of failed contracts and underfunding have meant a growing number of dentists no longer see the NHS as a place to build a career,” said Shawn Charlwood, chair of the BDA’s general dental practice committee. “The pandemic has upped the ante and we are now facing down an exodus.

“Integral to healthy society”

“Ministers have failed to grasp that we can’t have NHS dentistry without NHS dentists. Rather than punishing colleagues, we need a service that recognises and rewards commitment. Millions stand to lose out if the government fails to deliver needed reform.”

Residents of Suffolk village Leiston lost on April 30^th  last year its last remaining dental practice that provided dental treatments on the NHS.

The closure of the MyDentist practice sparked outrage around the town and surrounding villages, and the Toothless in Suffolk campaign was then launched by local resident Steve Marsling and his friend Mark Jones, who is a Unite workplace rep at UK Power Networks, to bring back an NHS dentist for Leiston.

Steve Marsling and the 'Toothess' campaign team have met with the Head of NHS Commissioning several times to press for immediate action in Leiston and provide access to NHS dentistry, but the results of these discussions have yet to bear any fruit. 

“It’s nothing short of a disgrace. A national disgrace.” says Steve, and added, “NHS commissioners are employed to ensure NHS treatments are provided where there’s a need, and yet they are seemingly incapable of fulfilling their responsibilities. 

 

"Their understanding of the severe consequences this dental crisis is having on the health of patients, both young and old, is limited.”

British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch said:

“Leiston offers a taste of where NHS dentistry is heading unless the government steps up.

“A whole community denied access to basic healthcare, with charities that normally operate in the developing world left to pick up the pieces.

“We will only see progress if Ministers turn the page on a decade of failed contracts and underfunding.”

Meanwhile, Toothless campaigns have started this year in Huntingdon, Newcastle and Manchester. People in other towns and cities have also made contact with the national campaign.

As the campaign spokesperson for Toothless England, Mark Jones, said: “We are demanding an NHS dentist for everyone and treatment free at the point of use, with free routine check-ups and preventive treatment. We want reforms to the dental contract to encourage dentists to provide NHS treatments and an end to NHS dentistry privatisation.

The public’s oral, general and mental health has continued to suffer in the face of a dental crisis brought about by successive years of government neglect and underfunding by the Treasury of a critical NHS service.”

Allison Fewtrell, a South Manchester resident, said: “The Toothless campaign is resonating with Greater Manchester communities, and people have contacted us with a variety of problems. Some can’t get an affordable dentist and have had no treatment for years. Others have suffered with problems that are preventable with regular dental care. People have endured chronic toothache and lost teeth.”

Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: “I regularly receive e-mails from constituents asking where they can find an NHS dentist for themselves or – quite often – their children. I cannot give them any options.

“I would like a return to free dental care and increased services, especially for children. Dentistry should be integral to ensuring a healthy society.”