Healthwatch raises concerns over lack of emergency dental care in Liverpool
Healthwatch has raised concerns over a lack of emergency dental care in Liverpool.
At a recent meeting of Sefton Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee, representatives said that they had “nowhere to signpost people” who need urgent dental care due to a shortage of dentists in the city. Cases reported to the group included elderly people who were unable to eat because they couldn’t get an appointment for emergency denture repairs.
A report compiled by Healthwatch suggests that 75% of the calls the body receives are now related to dental problems, including patients being unable to find a dentist or make an appointment with an NHS dentist. Healthwatch representatives said that people have been encouraged to contact them when trying to make appointments through a local emergency care system but this is “raising patient expectations” and currently, the group has “nowhere to signpost them.”
At the meeting in Sefton, members of Healthwatch shared an example of patients who have contacted the body because they can’t get an appointment at Crosby Village Dental Practice. The practice has tried desperately hard to recruit more dentists but simply cannot fill the posts, which has contributed to a shortage of appointments. Elderly residents have been affected, including those who need urgent denture repairs.
The issue of elderly residents struggling to eat due to oral health concerns has been raised with NHS England. From 2023, local commissioning will pass to NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.
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