Real crisis in dental care developing

IT was recently announced that a North Wales Dental Training Unit will be established in Bangor as part of wide ranging plans to improve access to dentistry services across the region.

Many people living in Arfon will welcome this with open arms as we know how difficult it has been to access NHS dental services in the area for many years now. The news that the facility in Cibyn on the outskirts of Caernarfon is to close in February was greeted with dismay and will exacerbate the situation further.

The news that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is progressing plans to introduce a training unit in Bangor is most welcome. We in Plaid Cymru have been calling for the training of doctors and dentists in Bangor for a long time. The new Dental Unit coupled with developing the Bangor Medical School will improve care in the long term.

Plaid Cymru has always argued the case for developing services in Bangor and putting an end to years of an eastward drift of services. At last the message through.

Although a location for the proposed facility has not yet been identified, it is expected to consist of lecture and seminar rooms, hands on teaching facilities and clinical space.

However, as I pointed out to the First Minister in the Senedd recently such a centre won’t appear over night.

In the meantime, there is a very real crisis developing in Arfon.

Part of the problem arises from the way in which the contracts work between dentists and the is getting health board, and there has been a pledge for some time that the Welsh Government would look in detail at what needs to be done in order to improve that situation.

However, the Health Board has said that as well working on longer term plans for a Dental Training Unit, immediate action is being taken to improve access to dentistry services.

This includes increasing the availability of access to urgent and priority dental care for patients who find themselves without a regular dentist, and identifying local practices with the capacity to temporarily increase provision of routine dental services.

Patients seeking an alternative NHS practice can find a list of practices and their contact details on the NHS 111 Wales and Betsi Health Board website.

Patients finding themselves in urgent need of a dentist and who have been unable to locate a practice that can accommodate them should contact NHS Direct Wales on 0845 4647 where they will triaged and, if appropriate, directed into an urgent access session.