Access to Dentistry: Somerset Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Olivia Bailey
Main Page: Olivia Bailey (Labour - Reading West and Mid Berkshire)Department Debates - View all Olivia Bailey's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(3 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Stephen Kinnock
We will absolutely ensure that integrated care boards are delivering to the target they have been set. If we see any evidence of slowing down or backsliding, we will certainly intervene to ensure that appointments are accelerated. I would also be more than happy to receive representations from my hon. Friend if he feels that performance in his ICB is not delivering.
The state of NHS dentistry in Somerset, and the nation as a whole, is simply unacceptable and it has to change.
Olivia Bailey (Reading West and Mid Berkshire) (Lab)
I welcome the action that the Government are taking to fix our dentistry crisis. In my constituency, only two dental practices accept adult patients, and vast swathes of the rural areas have no practice at all. Will the Minister set out how the Government’s plans will support my constituents to access the dental care that they need?
Stephen Kinnock
My hon. Friend puts her finger on the fundamental problem, which is that the NHS dental contract simply does not incentivise dentists to do NHS work. That is the fundamental reason why we are in this bizarre situation where demand for NHS dentistry is going through the roof, yet there is a consistent underspend in the NHS contract. It is a classic example of a false economy. The Conservatives thought they were being terribly clever by structuring a contract in a way they thought would deliver value for money, but in fact, it simply failed to incentivise dentists to do NHS work and they drifted more and more into purely private sector work. That is the very definition of a false economy.