NHS dentistry is at “death’s door”, the Health Secretary has told MPs as he restated his commitment to rolling out an extra 700,000 urgent dental appointments.
Wes Streeting said the dental appointments would be delivered “as fast as we can”, whilst also pledging to fix the “front door” to the NHS with additional funding for GP surgeries.
During health questions in the Commons, he said: “Today there are 1,399 fewer full-time equivalent GPs than in 2015, and NHS dentistry is at death’s door.
“This Government will fix the front door to the NHS. We’ve announced an additional £889 million in funding for general practice in 2025-26, the biggest boost in years, and started hiring an extra 1,000 GPs to the front line already.
“And our 10-year health plan will shift the focus of healthcare out of hospital into the community.”
This came in response to Labour MP for Barking, Nesil Caliskan, who had asked what assessment his department had made of patient access to primary care services.
Later in the session on Tuesday, Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Helen Morgan raised a petition by the British Dental Association which calls on the Government to save NHS dentistry.
She said: “Dentistry is obviously a key part of primary care and yet an estimated five million people in England have been left without an NHS dentist, and that’s why today a petition is being handed in at Downing Street signed by more than a quarter of a million people.
“We’ve moved on from the election but we don’t yet have a timetable on when the negotiations for a new NHS dental contract might begin and when the rollout of another 700,000 extra urgent appointments will begin.
“Can the Secretary of State confirm what the timetable is for those improvements and what the Government’s plans are specifically in relation to the new patient premium and offer assurances to dentists that any changes to the current model will be outlined in detail to them as soon as possible?”
Mr Streeting replied: “We are looking at two things, firstly, making sure we deliver what we said in our manifesto including the 700,000 urgent appointments, and we’re determined to deliver those as fast as we can.
“The minister for care (Stephen Kinnock) is having discussions with the BDA (British Dental Association) to that effect.
“He is also looking very closely, as am I, at the money that is already going into NHS dentistry, how that money could be better spent, and why it is that year after year, despite people’s teeth rotting to the extent that they’re having to pull them out themselves, or children are attending A&E to have their teeth pulled out, how it is that year after year we saw consistent underspends in the dentistry budget under our predecessors?”
Eddie Crouch, who chairs the British Dental Association, said in a statement: “The public and this profession have a simple message for the PM.
“The clock is ticking on NHS dentistry and this Government must make good on its promises. If reform is kicked into the long grass there won’t be a service left to save.”
Speaking in the Commons, former prime minister Rishi Sunak pressed the Government to consider increasing screenings for prostate cancer for high-risk groups.
He said: “Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and yet has no national screening programme, this is something we worked on in government and I thank the Secretary of State for also taking an interest in this area.
“So will he join me in commending Prostate Cancer Research’s excellent new report and urge his team to consider the findings, not least for increased screening of at-risk groups, so we can not just save the NHS money, but more importantly, also save thousands of lives.”
Mr Streeting replied: “He’s right to commend the research, we are actively looking at it.”
