The Welsh Conservatives have warned the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay that they must drastically increase spending on NHS dentistry or risk “dental deserts” across Wales.
In its 2021 manifesto, the British Dental Association (BDA) called for the Labour Government to “end chronic underfunding”, highlighting the canyon between per head spend between Wales and other devolved nations.
Spend on NHS dentistry in Wales was £47 per head prior to pandemic. The Welsh Conservatives, like the BDA, believe “it is time at the very least to bring it in line with investment in Scotland and Northern Ireland” where it is £55 and £56 per head, respectively.
It comes as government expenditure on dentistry in Wales has remained static in real terms over the past 15 years – and all the while patient access has decreased, leading to several areas across Wales where accessing NHS dental treatment has become incredibly difficult.
There is testimony of people ripping out teeth with pliers or spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on treatment because NHS treatment lists are exceedingly long if not closed altogether.
In First Minister’s Questions earlier this week, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies MS raised the case of Adam, a teacher in Bangor. Adam found it impossible to find a new NHS dentist when his current one stopped carrying out NHS treatments.
When he called other surgeries in Bangor, Menai Bridge, Llandudno, Penmaenmawr, Colwyn Bay, Caernarfon and several other towns in North-West Wales, he was told that there was a minimum of a two-year NHS waiting list at all of them.
As a result, he had no choice but to go private, spending over £1,164.40 over the course of three treatments.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Dyfed Powys Local Dental Committee (DPLDC) wrote to the Health Minister to explain that the Committee – representing a majority of NHS dental providers in the Hywel Dda health board area – confirmed that all practices are unable to sign the new dentist contract proposed by the Labour Government.
That contract proposes to reduce practice’s contract values to 25% of the agreed existing levels. Other dental professionals have said it reduces focus on regular check-ups; makes dentists choose between old and new patients; and pays dentists based on out-of-date performance data.
The Chairman said in his letter that “every member is unprepared to compromise of quality of care for their patients, and as such is prepared to walk away from NHS Dentistry as a whole unless the health board are prepared to engage and agree a workable solution.
He added: “As a group, we are extremely concerned that the NHS dental service in West Wales in at risk of collapsing as soon as next month, leaving patients with no NHS Dental service, if no compromise can be reached.”
According to the BDA , “access to services for new patients in Wales has more than halved since 2012, dropping to just 15% of practises accepting new adult patients.”
Mark Drakeford admitted in FMQs that Welsh NHS dentistry treatments was only “about 70 per cent of the volumes that were possible prior to Covid”.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:
“The concerns of dentists and patients at the moment is very worrying. On one hand we have dentists and professional bodies saying they are underfunded by the Labour and patients on the other saying they can’t access NHS treatment, and the link seems obvious.
“While it is understandable that dental services were reduced during the pandemic, we have surely reached the point where capacity can be increased to pre-Covid levels now given the progress made with vaccines and the near-abolition of restrictions.
“Meanwhile, the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay is clearly risking the creation of dental deserts across Wales by not addressing the lack of investment in NHS dentistry that is locking people out of an essential service, especially in rural Wales.
“It’s high time Labour used its Union dividend to match Scottish and Northern Irish spending levels on NHS dentistry or Wales will have to brace itself for a brush without decent access to dental services.”