Lewis dental patients forced to make costly trips to the mainland for treatment

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Dental patients on Lewis are having to make costly trips to the mainland for treatment, it has been revealed.

A shortage of dentists on the island means that patients who do not require urgent or special needs care are faced with the prospect of travelling to the mainland to see a dentist. The dental centre in Stornoway, which is staffed by the equivalent of six full-time dentists, is unable to register new patients because dentists are unable to increase their capacity due to health and safety concerns. For the time being, waiting lists have been frozen and anyone who isn’t registered with the clinic must seek treatment off the island.

Margaret Murray, a local resident, has set up a petition to call for the Government to improve access to dental services on the island. She said that anyone who isn’t registered has to travel to towns like Inverness, which comes at a cost. There are also the logistical difficulties associated with taking time off work or organising childcare, to take into account. In some cases, patients would be required to stay overnight, which bumps up the cost of seeing a dentist even more.

At the moment, each dentist looks after 2,000-2,500 patients, which is a much higher figure than on other islands. In Barra, there’s one dentist for 1,160 patients and in Uists and Benbecula, the ratio is 1:1615.

A spokesperson for NHS Western Isles confirmed that urgent treatment is available on the island, and added the new proposals to modify the service have been drawn up; as yet, they have not been approved.

 

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