Lancashire has seen a significant fall in the number of patients visiting the dentist, fuelling fears that dental access will not improve.
This is according to House of Commons figures that were released this week.
Data reveals that 36.8% of adults over 18 in the area have visited an NHS dentist in the last two years to June. This marks a drop of 63.2% who attended in the two years up to June 2019.
These figures are the latest to highlight the continuous issue of access to NHS dentistry.
It comes as nine in 10 NHS dental practices across the UK are not accepting new adult patients for treatment under the health service.
According to the BBC investigation, around eight in 10 NHS practices are also not taking on new children for treatment.
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Extensive survey
Dubbed ‘the most extensive survey of patient access ever undertaken’ by the British Dental Association (BDA), findings included:
- Across England, 91% of NHS practices were not accepting new adult patients (4,933 of 5,416), rising to 97% in the East Midlands, and 98% in the south west, north west and Yorkshire and the Humber
- Of those practices not taking on adults in England, 23% (1,124) said they had an open waiting list, and 16% (791) said the wait time was a year or longer, or were unable to say how long it would be
- Out of 152 local authorities in England, BBC researchers did not successfully reach any practices accepting new adult NHS patients in 56 (37%) local authorities
- In England, 79% of NHS practices were not accepting new child patients, (4,293 of 5,416)
- About 200 practices said they would take on a child under the NHS only if a parent signed up as a private patient.
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