You can’t handle the tooth, humza
Labour leader slams ‘broken, two-tier’ system
LABOUR has hit out over a “two-tier” dentistry system as patients struggle to find NHS places.
Scots Labour leader Anas Sarwar, a former dentist himself, said Scotland was “staring down the barrel” on our oral health due to a “broken” funding model.
Addressing the Conference of Scottish Local Dental Committees in Stirling yesterday, Sarwar said: “Having served in our NHS as a dentist, I know first-hand the importance, both medically and socially, of access to first-class dental care but under the SNP, NHS dental care is under threat.
“Despite all the SNP Government’s promises, we are looking down the barrel at a two-tier dentistry system where those with the ability to pay opt to go private and those without the means going without.
“This is a ticking timebomb under the health of millions of Scots and will reinforce Scotland’s already unacceptable levels of dental and wider health inequality.
“No one in this room wants it to be this way. Faced with this broken funding model, more and more dentists are feeling forced to take on more and more private dental care to survive. “I am here to listen and to say to you that with Scottish Labour, you have a party that is on your side and that will put your voices, your concerns and your expertise at the heart of government.”
Sarwar’s address comes just two months after the Daily Record told how patients were being forced to seek private treatment as dentists desert the NHS in their droves.
And we revealed how desperate patients were being forced into DIY dentistry using glue and pliers.
Statistics have shown that more than a third of patients registered with an NHS dentist went without a check-up or treatment for three years – with large numbers unseen in five years.
At the same time, the number of NHS24 calls about oral and dental health soared from 25,509 a year to a shocking 67,189 – nearly tripling.
Health inequalities remain stark with only 68.1 per cent of P7 children in the most deprived areas found to be decay free – compared to 89.7 per cent in the least deprived.