Watchdog Warns That Bolton Care Home Residents Have a Greater Chance of Seeing a Hairdresser than a Dentist
A health watchdog has warned that care home residents in Bolton have more chance of seeing a hairdresser than a dentist.
Healthwatch Bolton surveyed all the care homes located in the borough to ask what kinds of dental services were available for residents and the results were shocking. Only 13 percent of homes offered training to care workers, despite the fact that 89 percent of managers said they would welcome oral health training for staff.
A spokesman for Healthwatch Bolton said that the situation is very poor, with the majority of homes admitting that patients are dealt with on an individual case basis, rather than homes working with local dental practices or community services. In most cases, there was no plan in place with reference to dental care and there was a lack of understanding as to whose responsibility it is to ensure patients get the care they require.
The watchdog is now calling for home managers, the NHS and the local authority to work together to improve access to dental services and ensure that older people have access to routine and emergency dental treatment.
The findings of the survey were passed onto the Health and Wellbeing Board at the council and Councillor Cliff Morris, the chair of the board, has now promised to relay the information to the director of Public Health at the council.
Geriatric medicine specialist, Professor Anup Banerjee, attributed the problems to bureaucracy and the management structure and called for more to be done to ensure that older people have access to care, regardless of whether they are living in a care home or in their own home. His stance was supported by Freshdental owner, Dr Monik Vasant, who suggested that it was “vitally important” to make sure that the elderly are not overlooked.
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