Patients in South Somerset struggle to get NHS dental appointments
Patients in South Somerset are struggling to get NHS dental appointments with no practices in Chard and Ilminster accepting new adult patients.
There are currently no practices in the area taking on new adult NHS patients and dentists are only accepting referrals in cases where patients are not already registered.
Across the South West of England and many other parts of the UK, there is a shortage of NHS places, which is putting pressure on dental teams and causing long waits for appointments. BBC research revealed that around 90% of practices were not accepting new NHS adult patients in the summer. In some areas, the figure reached 99%.
Research showed that of the ten NHS practices listed in Ilminster and Chard, most were either not taking on any new patients or only accepting referrals. Some practices had not updated their details.
Finding a dentist has become increasingly difficult in the last two years due to a shortage of NHS dentists and rising demand for appointments after the pandemic. The British Dental Association estimates that around 3,000 dentists have left the NHS since 2020 to go private, change careers or retire. Many patients who haven’t seen a dentist since the start of the pandemic now want to get an appointment and a large proportion needs more complex treatment, which has contributed to a surge in the demand for NHS services and longer waiting times.
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