NHS Fife defends missed Dental Targets
Representatives from NHS Fife have defended the trust after a report showed that dental targets for children had been missed.
The report, which was published on Tuesday, showed that targets for tooth decay had been missed; the health board’s target was 60% of primary one children without tooth decay but the figures showed that the target was missed by just 0.3%. Despite the fact that the health board missed the target, representatives from the trust were keen to point out that the percentage of children without decay was very close to the target and that the figures represented the best statistics for children’s oral health since oral health surveys began in the 1980’s.
The report also showed that Tayside has the best ratio of dentists to patients; Tayside performed well on the majority of health measures but Fife underperformed, failing to reach a number of health targets. The oral health targets were set to try and improve standards of oral health on a national scale; the report revealed that NHS Fife fell short of the following measures: 100% of primary one and primary seven children to have a dental check-up in 2010, all nursery schools to provide supervised toothbrushing scheme, all primary schools in deprived areas to offer supervised toothbrushing programmes, 90% of children aged between 6 and 12 to be registered with an NHS dentist and 65% of adults to be registered with an NHS dentist.
Graham Ball, a consultant in public dental health from NHS Fife said that standards of oral health are improving in the area and the trust is committed to delivering first class care to children and adults in the region. The Child Smile programme is having a positive impact and the trust is looking to recruit more NHS dentists in the Fife area.
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