Access to Dentistry: Somerset

Debate between Anna Sabine and Ashley Fox
Tuesday 1st April 2025

(2 days, 13 hours ago)

Westminster Hall
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Anna Sabine Portrait Anna Sabine
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I do agree. Golden hellos are all very well, but the challenge—as I hear from dentists in my constituency—is that once dentists leave NHS dentistry and go into the private sector, which more and more are doing, nothing will ever get them back again. That is a loss that we do not recover from.

Ashley Fox Portrait Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank the hon. Member for Frome and East Somerset (Anna Sabine) for securing this important debate. Does she agree that Somerset benefits enormously from Bridgwater & Taunton College, where nurses and midwives are trained? Will she join me in asking the Minister whether dental hygienists, and in due course dental students from the University of Bristol Dental Hospital, might also train there and provide a service to the whole of Somerset?