Dental access poor despite new contract
Accessing NHS dental care in Yorkshire is still difficult despite improvements made by the 2006 dentistry contract.
In 2001 Tony Blair pledged that everyone would be able to access NHS dentistry if they wanted to and in 2006 the government introduced reforms to improve access to NHS dental care.
More than three million NHS dental patients in Yorkshire received treatment between December 2007 and December 2009, which is an increase of 75,000 since the contract was introduced.
The biggest improvement occurred in Rotherham where the number of people accessing NHS dental care grew by 15%.
However, 42,000 less adults were treated in North Yorkshire and less people are receiving NHS dental treatment in Leeds, the East Riding and North Lincolnshire, where only 42% tried to access care.
Dr Susie Sanderson, a Sheffield-based dentist and British Dental Association’s executive board chairperson, said that NHS dentistry was still facing challenges as many people still can’t access it.
She called on The Department of Health to reach out to people who need dental care but aren’t trying to access it.
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