Greater Manchester Children Waiting Up to 12 Months for Tooth Extractions
Children in parts of Greater Manchester are waiting up to a year for extraction treatment due to a severe nursing shortage, it has been revealed.
Young patients waiting for treatment in hospitals covered by Pennine Acute Trust are being forced to wait for treatment due to increased demand for hospital dental treatment and shortage of nursing staff. The areas affected include Rochdale, Oldham, Bury and parts of North Manchester.
The trust covers an area that has some of the country’s highest rates of childhood decay. In recent years, the demand for hospital treatment has increased and there are not enough nurses to cope. It is believed that there is a backlog of around 300 cases.
A representative from the trust said that priority cases are dealt with urgently, but there is currently a wait for treatment.
Paul Turner Mitchell’s son Luca is one of many children who have been advised to join the waiting list. Four year old Luca has been prescribed two courses of antibiotics for dental pain and needs a decayed tooth removing under general anaesthetic in hospital. Due to the backlog in cases at Fairfield Hospital, Paul has been advised that it might be a year before Luca can have treatment. He has branded the situation ‘an utter disgrace’.
Fairfield Hospital is often used to treat children referred by dentists based in the area covered by Pennine Care, a separate trust. However, with the backlog of cases growing steadily, the trust is now looking for alternative arrangements.
Medical director of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, Henry Ticehurst, said that the trust is working to find a solution, but the shortage of qualified children’s nurses is a national problem.
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