£300,000 to improve access to dentists in Market Drayton

Healthwatch Shropshire carried out a dentist review last year and found patients in Market Drayton were struggling to get an NHS appointment.

Resident Anne Beavan said she had spent six months trying to get a NHS dental appointment after recently moving to the town.

She said: "I recently moved to Market Drayton and have been trying to register with an NHS dentist in the town since I moved.

"I have called all the NHS dentists in the town and get told they are full and not taking on new patients. One even told me there was no point joining the waiting list as it was so long.

"It is very frustrating and due to the poor public transport links in Market Drayton I really don't want to register with a practice out of town."

Jane Randall-Smith, chief officer of Healthwatch Shropshire, said the group recently helped get extra dental capacity into Market Drayton and Shrewsbury as a result of feedback received.

She said: "We were first contacted by members of the public telling us about difficulties they were having accessing NHS dentists in July last year.

"We shared this intelligence at an NHS England Dental Commissioning Group. As a result NHS England has agreed to increase Units of Dental Activity in both Shrewsbury Town Centre and Market Drayton.

"In layman's terms this will mean provision for approximately 857 more patients to access NHS dental services in these two areas.

"We contacted NHS England recently and they confirmed that the additional dental activity has now been allocated to three practices in Shropshire.

"Bellstone Dental Practice and Bayston Hill Dental Practice will now be able to accept around 523 new NHS patients between them and Poynton House Dental Surgery in Market Drayton will be able to accept 333 new NHS patients.

"We continue to receive comments on challenges of getting an NHS dentist and I would encourage people to send their experiences to us so that we can use it to influence change.

"The more feedback we receive the better."

Vikki Taylor, NHS England locality director for Shropshire, said NHS England has made additional funding of £305,712 available to dental practices across the county.

She said: "“As commissioners of NHS dental services for Shropshire, we are aware of the pressures around access in Market Drayton.

"We have recently made additional investment in the area and we continue to work with the local dental practices to ensure that access to NHS dental services is maintained.

"Based on the average patient requirements we expect this to enable Shropshire dentists to treat more than 4,000 extra NHS patients each year.

“As well as NHS Choices website, patients can call our dental access telephone line on 0113 824 7343 to help them find alternative NHS dental practice."

To contact Healthwatch Shropshire, go to healthwatchshropshire.co.uk or call 01743 237 884.