‘NHS dentistry in Wales is on its knees’: Following ‘misleading’ claims from the Welsh government on the availability of NHS dental appointments, one dentist has said these ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unfair’ claims are giving false hope to the Welsh public.
Earlier this month, the Welsh government stated that 112,000 extra dental appointments will be available this financial year due to ‘recent reforms’.
After the BDA urged the government to correct this ‘misleading’ statement, a Welsh dentist has also criticised its ‘unrealistic’ claims.
Mark Travis, a dentist in south Wales, said the Welsh government’s claims are ‘unfair’ and could create even more pressure on dental practices. In reality, he said, NHS dentistry in Wales is ‘on its knees’ and ‘needs investment and help immediately.’
He said: ‘Recent claims from the Welsh government that over 100,000 additional dental appointments will be created this financial year are simply not true, unrealistic, and giving the public in Wales a false hope.
‘The changes in the contract are resulting in dentists having to prioritise seeing new patients to the practice to make ends meet and keep businesses running, which means that their list of regular, loyal patients who have waited patiently through Covid-19 times to be seen are being placed on the backburner.
‘This, in reality, is creating a more dentally unstable population as problems mount with regular patients who are long overdue, while dentists have to prioritise an often-large number of problems with new patients to the practice for a level of funding which is not reflective of this.’
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Huge pressure
He continued: ‘Every new patient to a practice takes away many appointments for existing patients which makes the claims unfair.
‘Asking the public on their experience of getting an NHS dental appointment or joining an NHS list is proof in itself that Welsh government claims are not true.
‘This also creates a huge amount of pressure on dental practices themselves, as it is the practices that have to deal with understandable patient anger and frustration in response to these claims and the reality of the situation.
‘Unless urgent action is taken and serious funding with a constructive plan of action put into motion, the trend of practices returning NHS contracts they cannot fulfil with the financial pressures attached will continue. In addition, patients will continue to have declining access to services for the foreseeable future.
‘NHS dentistry is on its knees in Wales. It needs investment and help immediately.’
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