Access to Primary Healthcare
Anna Sabine Excerpts(2 days, 9 hours ago)
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Anna Sabine (Frome and East Somerset) (LD)
Before I make some brief comments about dentistry, I must say that some Government Members seemed genuinely confused about our claims that the Liberals had anything to do with the founding of the NHS. I urge them to google the Beveridge report.
My grandfather was a dentist, so as a child I was privileged enough to have access to dental care as and when I needed it, although when I was eight I did fall down the stairs at his surgery and break my arm while he was doing my dad’s fillings, so possibly his health and safety was not as good as his dentistry. Many children nowadays do not have the same access to dentistry as I did as a child. In the past year in Somerset, the percentage of children seen by a dentist was just 42%, when the English average is more than 55%. The percentage of adults seen in the past two years is still only 32%.
The Darzi review revealed that only about 30% to 40% of NHS dental practices are accepting new children and adult registrations. That is leaving many with no option but to go private. My constituency of Frome and East Somerset is also considered a dental desert. It is predominantly rural, which means that access to services is even more limited. The lack of public transport means that accessing dental services is difficult already, and with practices not taking on new patients, they are pushed even further afield. I had an email from two constituents from Frome earlier this month. They have been unable to see an NHS dentist for four years due to a lack of availability for new patients. They said in their email that
“it not only affects our oral health, but contributes to broader health issues that can arise from neglecting dental care”,
and they are anxious about potential long-term impacts.
Getting a dentist appointment should never be as hard as it is now, and I urge support for our motion to help reduce dental deserts and rescue NHS dentistry from disaster.