The ‘deeply worrying’ crisis leaving York children with no dental care: Health campaigners demand change
Adults and children in York are being left in pain and unable to eat healthy food because of the lack of access to dentists in the city.
Now campaigners are demanding action to change the situation which they said was not acceptable.
Healthwatch York published a report in summer which found that no dentists in York were accepting new NHS patients
At a meeting of the City of York Council health and wellbeing board, Healthwatch York manager Sian Balsom said: “The thing that we get most calls about is people seeking an NHS dentist.
“So the reason why we pulled this report together was is it possible to find an NHS dentist in York, in the two months during which we consulted with all the local dentists?
“The answer to that question was no, it isn’t. For me, we can either accept that this is something we have no control over.
“Or we can say enough’s enough.”
Rapid and radical reform
The report calls for what Ms Balsom described as “rapid and radical reform of NHS dentistry, the way it’s commissioned and provided”.
She said: “People in our city deserve to have access to dental care that that enables them to live their lives without pain, to be able to eat the foods that help them feel healthy rather than the stuff that they can actually eat.”
And she called for York to campaign for change: “I don’t think we should tolerate this any longer.”
Committee chair Cllr Carol Runciman said: “The fact that children can’t access dentistry is deeply worrying, let alone the adults.”
Dr Emma Broughton, chair of the York Health and Care Collaborative, said GPs and A&E were seeing the consequences of the lack of dental treatment.
“I am not a dentist, I’m a GP, but I can’t see people in pain suffering,” she told the meeting.
“Therefore I will prescribe antibiotics. I will give pain relief and it is not the correct thing. Our BMA contract is very clear – GPs should not be treating dental problems, but it is very hard to ignore a patient who is unwell and in need.”
York director of public health Sharon Stoltz said she shared the board’s frustrations. “We’ve been trying to work with local dentists, we’ve been trying to improve access, particularly to children and to dental care.
“We can do all of that work. But unless people can see a dentist and receive not just crisis dentistry, but restorative dentistry, then we’re never going to be able to resolve these these issues.”
Both Ms Balsom and Ms Stoltz called on the board to lobby the government to reform the system as a matter of urgency, and the chair Cllr Runciman said she would pursue that.