Dental Services: East of England

Debate between Richard Bacon and Mark Hendrick

Tuesday 16th May 2023 Westminster Hall

[Mr Bacon]

My hon. Friend makes several good points. We did payment by activity for acute hospitals, and we got a huge amount of activity in acute hospitals. Mental health was then the Cinderella service, with what little was left. Of course, there are tensions, and my hon. Friend, as a practising hospital doctor, will know that better than most. How that needle can be threaded to get the desired results has confronted Governments for many years.

On my hon. Friend’s specific point, having gone through medical school or dental school and come out the other end, junior doctors and, I am sure, junior dentists are at the moment struggling in the way that many others are—including young professionals—to afford anywhere to live. We have hundreds of thousands of acres of public land, including Ministry of Defence land, NHS land, railway land and church land, which has a quasi-public flavour to it. Norfolk County Council alone owns 16,000 acres of land. I would say to these people, “Come and work for the NHS for a few years full time. Commit yourselves completely to this, and we will help you design, build and rent from us at a decent rent. And then, depending on the calibrated loyalty package, which I am sure we can easily work out, you will get the chance in future to buy the house that you have designed for yourself.”

To go back to the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland has made, getting people to stay in a particular area has proved difficult, not least because we do not have a dental training college. However, this is also about people understanding that the area they are going to work in is particularly attractive. That is true of much of the east of England, except people do not realise it because not enough of them, certainly in dentistry, are educated there. There is a huge opportunity for the Government to get this right, and I am more concerned about ensuring that the plan that comes from the Minister in the next few weeks or months is correct.

The fear I have is the potential downside. My constituent who, before Christmas, booked an appointment for her children for 9 May but found out recently that it was cancelled in a text message from the Harleston Bupa practice—she has been phoning to find out what is going on—will not care or know about the interstices of the 2006 dental contract, which was perhaps well intentioned but is deeply flawed and has led to many of the problems we are grappling with. She will just care that she cannot get an appointment.

Although the Opposition have not been particularly fleet of foot in recent years, even they can see that this will become a very salient issue at the next general election. We have our five points: halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing the national debt, cutting NHS waiting times and stopping the boats. Those are fine, but they are not a programme for Government. We need to do those things to restore confidence after the events of last autumn and—it might be best if I quote Mark Twain—to try and draw a veil and hope that not too many people remember them. However, the fact is that we need a better programme for the election, and I am sure we will have one.

The hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) will be sitting there with his chums, thinking, “What are our five points going to be?” If we do not get this right—mark my words, Sir Mark—the Opposition parties will say, “They have had 13 years to talk about it. It started with the 2006 dental contract, but they have had long enough and have not yet sorted it.” It will then become one of their five points. We are talking about such piffling sums of money compared with the overall cost of the NHS that it is simply incomprehensible that we would not deal with this properly.

The issue of dental care has been of growing concern to our constituents for many years, and the concern has only grown as successive Governments have failed to grapple with the issues properly. On present trends, it will continue to get worse—much worse—unless the Government make a decisive step change and match that decision with the right resources in the right places within a contractual framework that incentivises the right behaviour. That is what the Government need to do.

[Sir Mark Hendrick (in the Chair)]

I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called in the debate. I call Andrew Selous.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Richard Bacon]

It might make it more of a pentagram, but I did mean to mention Cranfield, of course. My hon. Friend knows that in South Norfolk we speak of little else. I do not want to take up too much time, although we are slightly ahead.

My hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness said that he is not technically in the east of England. I had a mad great-great aunt who lived in Brigg in Lincolnshire, and Lincolnshire has always been in the east of England, as far as I am concerned. He is very welcome at this debate, and I had a great interest in what he said. However, if it is true that the wilder fringes of the internet have got worse in recent years, and if my hon. Friend was responsible for 5G, to whom should we attribute the extra growth in the wilder fringes of the internet, if not to him? I only pose the question.

The hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) surprised me. I remember when he was shadow Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government portfolio. He mostly appeared at the Dispatch Box like an angry avenging angel. The fact that he is capable of sounding rather rational and sensible was a surprise to me. I am afraid he also confirmed my worst fears—

[Sir Mark Hendrick (in the Chair)]

Order. Can we confine ourselves to the issue of dental services, please?

[Mr Richard Bacon]

As the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish said, dentistry definitely needs to be improved. He has confirmed my worst fear, which is that if the Minister does not focus on this sufficiently, the hon. Member and the Opposition will. They will produce a solution which—whether it is delivered or not—too many people will find attractive, I fear.

Fortunately, we have in the Minister someone in whom several colleagues have reposed confidence, and have said so publicly. On one occasion, when we were both on holiday, I bumped into the Minister in a second-hand book shop in Hay-on-Wye. I know he is a cerebral fellow who thinks carefully about these issues, and I take seriously the assurances I have had from colleagues that he is looking at this extremely closely.

I say one thing to him in conclusion, and this is the acid test. If he produces a dental plan that can be delivered speedily, and if he negotiates successfully not just with his Secretary of State and east of England MPs, but with the Treasury, to produce the resources required to do that, he will quickly give our constituents reassurance that NHS dental provision can be a place where dentists want to work, thrive and have successful careers. If he can do that, he will make a significant contribution to our success at the next general election. Not to put any pressure on him, but I believe that getting this right—reflecting on what I said about the issue being such a salient one—puts on his shoulders the enormous burden of getting the right answer so that our constituents have dental provision that works.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered dental services in the East of England.