New NHS figures show 20,000 children have missed dental appointments in Bolton
New NHS figures show that 20,000 children have missed dental appointments in Bolton in the last year.
Statistics indicate that 50,000 appointments have been delayed or cancelled in Bolton, with around 30,000 adults affected. The pandemic caused practices across the country to close between March and June 2020 and since clinics reopened, restrictions have limited patient numbers significantly.
According to recent data, 32% of children in the borough have seen a dentist in the last 12 months compared to 64% of children in the same time period the year before.
The pandemic is the driving force behind falling patient numbers but the British Dental Association (BDA) has highlighted issues that were impacting access to services before the Covid-19 crisis hit.
Dentists from the organisation claim that underfunding has contributed to problems with access in some areas for many years, with the pandemic exacerbating existing issues.
Some dentists are calling for restrictions to be lifted or eased to allow teams to increase appointment numbers again. Figures show that most NHS practices are operating at around 60% of their normal capacity, which means that backlogs for routine services are growing. Dentists are continuing to prioritise urgent cases and work through the backlog of patients who have had courses of treatment or procedures cancelled or postponed.
Shawn Charlwood, chair of the BDA’s general dental practice committee, has called for the government to provide urgent funding to improve access to NHS dental care in England. Other nations have already stepped in to support the sector and the BDA is pushing for ministers to do more to protect practices.
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