BBC report highlights major dental access issues in Northern Ireland
A BBC report has highlighted major dental access issues in Northern Ireland.
An investigation carried out by the BBC suggests that 90% of practices are not accepting new adult NHS patients and 88% have no child NHS places available. In Antrim and Newtownabbey, there were no clinics with adult patient places on offer.
Children in full-time education in Northern Ireland are entitled to free dental treatment on the NHS, but the survey indicates that many are going without because they can’t access dental services. Nationally, only 12% of practices had spaces for new child patients.
The Department of Health at Stormont insisted that work was underway to draw up a dedicated plan to ease access issues and enable more patients who don’t currently have an NHS dentist to get appointments.
During their investigation, BBC researchers drew up a list of 365 practices that offered NHS services. They found that some had closed or switched to private dentistry. In total, they contacted 274 practices across the country to enquire about getting an appointment in the next eight weeks. Those that were able to provide appointments for new NHS patients before this deadline were classed as accepting new patients. Only 8% of clinics in Belfast, the area with the most practices, were offering new patient appointments.
Researchers found that of the practices that were not taking on new NHS patients, 20% had an open waiting list for adults. Over 10% had a waiting time of over 12 months or were unable to give an estimated time frame.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that the pandemic had “significantly impacted” NHS dental services. Extra funding worth £78 million has been provided to support NHS dental practices in the last two years.
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