Calls for better access to NHS dental treatment for Shropshire from health watchdog
There has to be better access to NHS dental care in Shropshire, a health watchdog says.
An internet search this week found just two dentists, one in Bridgnorth, the other in Telford, saying that they were taking on new NHS patients.
Now Healthwatch Shropshire says that NHS England must continue its work with dentists to quickly improve patient access to NHS dental care in the county.
Healthwatch Shropshire has published a report into the experience of people trying to get routine NHS dentist appointments in Shropshire saying a request for the public's own experiences showed 93 per cent of people reported poor experiences of accessing services.
The problem appeared worse in Oswestry and Market Drayton.
Lynn Cawley, chief officer of Healthwatch Shropshire, said: “We found that the problems of finding a dentist willing to treat patients under the NHS has impacted on all ages from young children through to the over 80s. People are reporting that the NHS service to help people find a dentist is very out of date and often it indicated that a practice was taking on NHS patients but when people rang the practice they found out it was not correct.
"In fact, when we last looked at an independent source of information it appears that there is only one practice taking on NHS patients in the Shropshire Local Authority area.”
“Some people also told us that their dentist is no longer willing to treat them as NHS patients while offering them private treatment. It is clear that having been treated as an NHS patient does not mean guaranteed access to NHS dental appointments in future.”
She said there was also a lack of accurate information about whether there are dentists taking on NHS patients.
"There is confusion caused by the current approach to the issue of 'registration'. There appears to be a widely held misconception that patients are registered with an NHS dental service in the same way that a patient registers with a GP practice.
"Healthwatch Shropshire has shared its findings with the NHS and has been told that NHS England and NHS Improvement Midlands will continue to finalise its procurement plans to secure a new NHS dental practice in Oswestry and review access in other areas of Shropshire.’
