Isle of Wight MP urges health bosses to apply for funding to clear dental backlogs
Isle of Wight MP, Bob Seely, has urged health bosses to apply for additional government funding to clear dental backlogs.
The government recently confirmed that £50 million would be injected into NHS dental services to fund 350,000 extra appointments. The money will be used to encourage dentists to work outside of normal working hours to provide patients with access to appointments during weekends and evenings.
Mr Seely has written to the Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group to encourage representatives to apply for a slice of the extra funding.
The island would be able to apply for a portion of the £7 million fund allocated to improve NHS dental services in the South East. Mr Seely has also written to the health secretary, Sajid Javid, to support a bid for funding for services on the island in advance.
In the letter, Mr Seely said that services on the island have been severely disrupted and patients are finding it increasingly difficult to find NHS dentists offering new places or providing appointments.
The Conservative MP also highlighted difficulties among residents who are unable to pay for private dental care or ferry crossings to the mainland to see an NHS dentist.
At a recent debate, Mr Seely raised the issue of access problems on the Isle of Wight and suggested a series of measures to try to improve services and enable more patients to see NHS dentists.
Speaking to health minister, Maria Caulfield, Mr Seely admitted that it was not an easy problem to solve but resolved to keep pushing for improvement to help the island’s residents.
For more news click here.
Join this Discussion