“After several years of trying to get an NHS dentist in Carlisle, I developed severe toothache from a dental infection. The nearest NHS dental practise I can get to is over in Lockerbie!”, said Murray Kerr.
Murray Kerr, my uncle, has recently been refused treatment for an abscess in his mouth. The only way to receive any help was to go to a dentist privately which he cannot afford.
There has been huge concerns arising over a lack of NHS dentists in Carlisle. With increasing emergencies caused by tooth decay NHS data shows that 295 people have been forced to go to A&E for emergency dental decay instead of their local dental practise due to their lack of staff. Elderlies, children and pregnant women aren’t receiving the help they are entitled to. This is already having a huge impact on Carlisle, Whitehaven, Workington and Dumfries and Galloway as their dental practises have outlined multiple reasons for moving to private care. These include running costs, recruitment problems, the NHS payment system and the care backlog caused by the pandemic.
By updating the NHS dental contract, those in charge plan to alleviate this issue by urging 700,000 urgent dental appointments, however this will be extremely expensive and time consuming. In Scotland the government plans to create a new payment system for NHS dental services encouraging dentists to provide this care as well as making it more accessible to those in need. There has been a range of measures issued to improve NHS dentistry in England and Scotland as they plan to improve this service in the future.
