Uneven access to NHS dentistry
The House of Commons Library has recently released new data which highlights the uneven nature of dentistry access across the UK. Access to NHS dentists varies hugely across the country. For example, NHS dental activity is lowest in the South West, with dentists only delivering 61% of what NHS England asked of them. This is compared to 95% in London.
Fig.1: Dental activity rates by NHS region, England 2023/24
In the BCP area, access to NHS dentists has decreased significantly since the pandemic. 37.5% of adults in BCP have seen a dentist in the last two years, compared to 53.1% in 2018. This is partly due to the decreasing number of dentists available in Dorset. In 2019, there were 377 dentists in Dorset; now, there are only 335. As a consequence, the number of patients per dentist has increased significantly, putting greater pressure on dentists in the region. Furthermore, new data from the House of Commons Library shows that lower availability of NHS dentists directly correlates to higher demand on Accident and Emergency departments.
Fig.2: A&E visits due to dental problems, England 2023/24
As this map shows, A&E visits due to dental problems in Dorset are higher than areas such as London and the North West where dental activity rates are higher.
This is not just a problem in the South West. According to the BBC, 9 out of 10 NHS dentists were no longer accepting adult patients in 2022 and some towns didn’t have any NHS dentists at all. Despite this crisis in dentistry, little has been done to rectify the issue. The Conservative’s Dental Recovery Plan is widely considered to have failed. Plans to increase the number of dentists in underserved areas and introduce mobile dental vans have completely failed to deliver. Amanda Pritchard, head of NHS England, has recognised the need to learn from the lessons of the past and consider a “radical reshaping” of dentistry in the UK.
On the 13th of February, a Public Accounts Committee met to discuss the issue of Fixing NHS Dentistry. Today, the government announced 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments to be made available from April to help tackle “dental deserts”. This is a step in the right direction, but some are worried that the changes don’t go far enough. The British Dental Association (BDA) found that the new appointments translate into just two extra appoints per dentist per month. The BDA has further raised concerns that Integrated Care Boards have not been offered a framework for delivering these new appointments.
Poole’s MP Neil Duncan-Jordan has written to the Minister of State for Care (Stephen Kinnock MP) to find out what the government is doing to resolve this issue and equalise access to NHS dentistry across the UK. Read the letter below:
