Concerns flagged up as people ‘told to travel miles’ for NHS dentist

PATIENTS NEEDING to see an NHS dentist in Beverley are being told none are available.

According to local MP Graham Stuart, residents wanting to see an NHS dentist are being told they have to go to Cottingham or Hull instead.

The MP for Beverley and Holderness has written to NHS England to flag up concerns about lack of availability and “unacceptable” waiting times.

He said: “It is concerning to see local residents forced to travel elsewhere in order to receive the NHS dental services that they deserve.”

In response, Moira Dumma, NHS England’s regional director of commissioning operations, told the MP they were looking at how to provide extra capacity – using their existing budget.

She said: “We will be paying particular attention to areas where we know this is particularly challenging. We hope to have completed this work in the next few months.”

However, the British Dental Association, the dentists’ trade union, said the problems were country-wide. It blamed the controversial dental contract, introduced in 2006, and the fact that the dental budget is fixed to just 56 per cent of the population.

The target-driven contract is based solely on the number of “units of dental activity” achieved by dentists.

The BDA added: “Dentists receive financial penalties when they don’t hit targets, receive no compensation when they exceed them, and have no scope to take on new NHS patients, even when they have spare capacity. This has led to a conveyor-belt model of provision. NHS dentists are forced to chase targets for curative treatment, rather than provide vital preventive care.”