CUMBRIAN MP CALLS FOR RADICAL REFORM OF DENTISTRY

This week, on the floor of the House of Commons, Westmorland MP Tim Farron has called for a radical reform of NHS dentistry.

Tim spoke of the desperation of patients within his constituency as they are faced with the decision to either go private or travel miles to access a dentist.

Tim said: "I have recently lost a surgery in my community [in Grange-over-Sands] that saw 5,800 patients lose their NHS status overnight. The private plan that those patients were offered to replace those places would have cost a family of four £1,000 a year just to stay registered and on the books."

He offered another example of the dentistry crisis; that a family in Coniston's nearest available NHS dental practice is in Hexham, Northumberland. This would force a family to take a 160-mile round trip just to see their dentist.

He also warned of the potentially life-threatening consequences of patients not being able to receive regular dentistry appointments, as they are often the first to spot symptoms of oral related cancers and diseases.

Tim made the point that people are paying for services, via their taxes, they are not receiving. Additionally, that the money dentists receive from their patients for treatment is not enough to sustain most practices.

He said: "A unit of dental activity payment, at the most basic level, could net perhaps £20 or £30 for a single examination. Diligent dentists seeking to do a good job might do three of those in an hour. Let us do the maths - that funding is not enough to pay to keep the lights and heating on, pay the rent and pay for salaries and materials."

He said that this has led to a situation where dentists must now effectively subsidise the NHS which does not incentivise good professional practice and is calling for reform: "Unless there is radical reform of the system, good dentists will leave the NHS and thousands on thousands of our constituents will not be able to access the dental care that they have already paid for through their taxes for themselves and their children."