Access Goalposts On The Move
- Details
- Published: Friday, 24 November 2023 07:53
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 1616
For a long time there has been a reluctance from NHS authorities and government, to accept the evidence that NHS Dentistry was turning into, at best, an emergency service, and abandoning any pretext of offering continuing care.
The Welsh NHS offer of incentives to contractors to see more emergencies at the cost of regular attenders, has set a pattern now being copied elsewhere. As ICB’s try and shore up dental provision, an increasing number of local initiatives are favouring basic emergency care. The messaging, at least from ICB’s, is clear.
In London, The Camden New Journal ran the blunt headline, “Dentists are now too stretched for everybody to have regular check-ups”
It reported that representatives of North Central London NHS, speaking at the council’s health scrutiny committee, had said there was a functioning service available for people in pain needing urgent help with extractions and also for children. However they were no longer recommending that people went for regular dental check-ups, because the NHS could not cope with the demand.
Despite some funding being allocated to practices in Camden for October 2023 to March 2024, a serious capacity problem has been identified for the wider population wanting to maintain their dental health.
Since Covid there has been a steady increase in the rate of decay – particularly among people in deprived areas of Camden – which has led to patients needing more complex treatments.
The paper explained that the meeting had been told that: “Dentists are not taking on this work on the NHS because of an archaic contract that is pushing practices toward more private work.”
Kelly Nizzer, lead for dental services at NHS England, said: “Promoting NHS dentistry at this point would probably not work because we have access issues and there is a backlog…
“We can talk about brushing your teeth – and have a big toothbrush campaign – and say go and see you dentist regularly. But when people say ‘ok where do we go?’ It’s like errrr – well, that’s where the issue sits now.”
She said that there was a good NHS service for people in pain and children, but added: “For everyone outside the box the question is do we have the capacity to get these people in?”
Ms Nizzer told the meeting that as complicated treatment was needed for patients who were not going to check-ups, “the issue is that patients are taking longer to treat”, adding: “When I needed two appointments before, I might need seven now. But the dentist is still getting paid the same from us [the NHS] however the amount of time he is taking is much longer.”
She said that the increase in complex cases had led to many dentists going private or even going out of business, concluding her analysis of the problems with: “Something is going to give.”
The change in messaging is not restricted to London. The Eastern Daily Press reported on a meeting of the county’s health overview and scrutiny group, where NHS management warned that there were no quick fixes to their dental woes.
In the area, accessing dentistry continues to be a major source of frustration, with not a single practice currently offering NHS treatments and people regularly forced to turn to A&E for support.
Sadie Parker, director of primary care at NHS Norfolk and Waveney, said: "We know the situation remains very challenging for people wanting to access NHS dentistry and we are still committed to publishing our long-term plan in March.
"I think it is fair to say this is going to be a slow journey for us. We have to be realistic, especially with the things that are out of our control."
The paper helpfully explained to its readers that, ‘With the NHS dental contract levels controlled by central government, local bosses are powerless to improve these conditions.’
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report