Isle of Wight dental access issues continue as bid to find new provider fails
Dental access issues continue to deepen on the Isle of Wight despite efforts to increase NHS capacity.
Patients on the Isle of Wight are still struggling to get appointments following a review of services on the island. The review highlighted widespread access issues, prompting NHS England to propose a new super-surgery. The new practice would be almost four times bigger than one full-time surgery enabling thousands more patients to see a dentist every month. Unfortunately, no providers have been found to take on the new NHS contract.
The latest update provided for the Isle of Wight’s policy and scrutiny committee for health and social care outlined NHS England’s intentions to increase the number of NHS places on the island. Despite efforts to find dental providers to take on a new contract, progress has stalled due to the fact that no dentists came forward. NHS teams are now contacting parties that were previously interested in taking on contracts in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to establish what has changed and what can be done to make the contract more appealing.
From July 2022, commissioning of dental services will be the responsibility of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, rather than NHS England. It is hoped that the move will help to fine-tune commissioning by utilising local insight and knowledge to provide bespoke, tailored services.
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