No NHS dentistry in new forest
A potential parliamentary candidate has said that thousands of patients in the New forest have no access to NHS dental care.
LibDem Terry Scriven, prospective MP for New Forest East, claims that he receives letters and calls from local residents on a daily basis stating their concerns about the dental issues in the region.
Councillor Scriven has now written Hampshire Primary Care Trust chief exec and Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, outlining his concerns.
The letter states that there is an absence of preventative dental care and that costs incurred by patients extremely worrying.
Cllr Scriven said that he was aware that the dental access problem was not an isolated issue but that statistics indicated that Hampshire and the New Forest were some of the worst affected areas.
He added that many local residents were now questioning whether there is a local health service for all as there seemed to be very little provision around the New Forest.
The Cllr said it was his understanding that the NHS dentistry aims to serve around 60 per cent of the population, as many people use private care, and highlighted that only 42 per cent of the population were served over the last two years.
Julia Bagshaw, associate director at NHS Hampshire said that NHS dentistry had been working to increase access in the New Forest.
She added that the NHS had opened dental practices in Holbury and New Milton in recent years and had increased investment in clinics in Milford on Sea, Holbury, New Milton and Totton.
Ms Bagshaw said that the NHS recognises that the central New Forest needs greater access to dental services.
A Department of Health spokesperson said access to NHS dentistry has been increasing steadily over the past year.
The government is attempting to ensure that everyone can have access to a NHS dentist by March 2011.
The number of people seen by a NHS dentist over a two-year period has increased in each of the last four quarters, by a total of 720,000.
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