Broken Britain: Private dentist offering NHS places for 'those in greatest need' as access crisis deepens
A dental practice in Brighouse is offering a limited number of NHS places to try and ease bottlenecks
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A private dental clinic in West Yorkshire is offering a limited number of places to NHS patients "in greatest need" as access to frontline services becomes scarce.
It comes after a new poll dealt a blow to the Government’s dental recovery plan, with a majority of dentists believing the proposal will do little to ease bottlenecks on the frontline.
West Park Dental, on Park Street in Brighouse, says it has some places for people who have struggled to access care and have not been seen by a dentist in the last two years, other than for an emergency.
The scheme is not open to patients who already have a dentist.
Sophia Bow, director of Brighouse Dental Team Ltd, said: “Our aim is to provide an equitable service for those most in need.
"We are prioritising children and pensioners, though the scheme is open to all.
"Unfortunately, we will not see patients who have previously been registered with us but have been removed from our register owing to poor attendance or abuse towards staff."
If a patient fails to attend their appointment or cancels at short notice without a genuine reason, they will be removed from the practice’s register.
Anyone interested should register via the practice’s website at https://templepractice.com/
It comes after the Government unveiled its £200million plan to bolster NHS dentistry in England last month.
The dental recovery plan includes:
- £20,000 bonuses for dentists working in under-served communities
- Dentists being paid more for NHS work
- A “Smile for Life” advice programme aimed at new parents and mobile dental teams being deployed to schools
- The rollout of so-called “dental vans” in rural and coastal communities
- Plans for the biggest expansion of water fluoridation in England since the 1980s
Just three percent of dentists believe that the Government’s dental recovery plan will result in them seeing more NHS patients, according to a new poll.
A survey of 1,104 dentists in England found that 43 percent actually believe the proposals will lead to them seeing fewer NHS patients, while 54 percent said the number of NHS patients they see will remain the same.
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Just three percent of dentists believe that the Government’s dental recovery plan will result in them seeing more NHS patients
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The new poll by the British Dental Association (BDA) found that three-quarters (75 percent) of dentists do not believe that the plan will improve NHS access for new patients.
More than nine in 10 (93 percent) said that the proposals are not sufficiently ambitious to meet the scale of the challenge facing NHS dentistry.
In a further blow, a minister has claimed the Government’s pledge to deliver 2.5 million more appointments through its dentistry reforms may not be entirely “reliable”.
Health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom said that the figure was based on modelling and there is a “high likelihood” that it is not reliable.
It comes as MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee heard how some dentists think that the Government’s flagship dental recovery plan is a “joke”.
And Healthwatch England described how it continues to hear “desperate stories” from patients struggling to access care – including a person who overdosed on painkillers to treat pain caused by oral health issues.