Retford father voices concerns over access to NHS dentistry after calling every practice in town
A father of three from Retford, Lincolnshire, has voiced concerns over access to NHS dentistry after calling every practice in the town to get an appointment.
Kevin Hyatt moved to Retford to live with his girlfriend several months ago, but has struggled to sign up with a practice because there are no local surgeries offering new NHS places. Kevin contacted the practice his girlfriend is registered with and was informed that they are only taking on private patients at the moment.
At the time, he thought it wouldn’t be a problem and started calling other surgeries in the area only to find that the message was the same. There were no clinics accepting new NHS patients, but most offered private appointments within days or weeks. In some cases, Mr Hyatt was informed that he would have to wait up to three years to get an NHS appointment.
After calling several practices to no avail, Mr Hyatt contacted Healthwatch but they were unable to help. He then wrote to NHS England, but has not had a response. Mr Hyatt’s case is not an isolated one and a recent Healthwatch report suggested that patients up and down the country are finding it hard to join a practice or get an appointment. Some are being advised to join waiting lists, while others have been encouraged to consider going private.
There is a shortage of dentists in some areas and access issues have been exacerbated by the pandemic, as restrictions mean that teams can only treat a limited number of patients per day. While surgeries are running at reduced capacities, many are prioritising urgent cases and this means that patients who want to access routine services have to wait longer.
Join this Discussion