A dental practice recently visited by Rishi Sunak to launch his NHS dentistry “recovery plan” is dropping NHS patients.
The Prime Minister visited Gentle Dental in Newquay, Cornwall, to launch the much-derided plan which came with no extra funding. It soon emerged the surgery was not taking on new adult patients. Now it has confirmed to the Mirror ’s sister publication Cornwall Live that existing adult patients are now being removed from one of its lists.
Two existing patients of the surgery told the publication they were verbally told by staff that a recent appointment would be their last as NHS patients. The elderly couple's daughter said: "My mum and dad went to Gentle Dental last week and have been NHS patients out there for years only to be told that was their last visit as Gentle Dental is getting rid of all NHS patients.
"So Rishi Sunak's idea didn't work for the Cornwall people. They can either stay on their books and pay a monthly plan or leave. Of course, they have to leave as they are on a pension."
The Mirror's Dentists for All campaign is demanding a return of the right to an NHS dentist for everyone, as most are no longer accepting new patients. It sparked a huge response from readers who reported yanking out their own teeth, living on painkillers, driving 200 miles for an NHS dentist or travelling abroad to places as far away as India for cheaper private treatment.
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The Health Select Committee has labelled the NHS dental payment contract - which pays dentists the same amount for three fillings as 20 - as “not fit for purpose”. The Tories’ recovery plan effectively kicked meaningful contract reform into the long grass until after the General Election.
Eddie Crouch, chair of the British Dental Association, said: “The Government’s so-called ‘Recovery Plan’ has been a bad joke from the outset, and this appears to be the punchline. The lesson here for all parties is that spin is no substitute for meaningful reform.”
Our online petition on the 38 Degrees platform, launched in partnership with the BDA, came in response to an exodus of dentists from the NHS and has now reached 222,000 signatures.
This total £3 billion NHS dentistry budget for England has already seen a £1 billion real terms cut over the last decade due to inflation. Overall it has remained flat despite population growth. The BDA estimates the budget is only enough to fund care for half the population. It is increasingly made up of the contribution from patient charges which have gone up by 45% in the last decade. The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.
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