This morning’s Western Mail illustrates that despite the investment made by the Welsh Government into dentistry there are still huge problems accessing dental services across Wales.
They say that in Anglesey, not one of the 11 practices in the county is able to take on any new patients and in Neath Port Talbot all 17 NHS practices are full to capacity. In rural Ceredigion, only one of the 33 practices has any spaces. Waiting lists in some areas are so backed up that it takes several months to register with a NHS practice and then as long as another 18 months to get an appointment for a check-up.
Around 1.4 million people across Wales do not receive any regular dental treatment and fewer than 150 practices are taking on new NHS patients. Other areas such as Newport also have significant problems with only four of the 21 practices able to take new patients, and in Torfaen, only two of 14 practices are taking people on. In Pembrokeshire patients are all entered onto a database to be assigned a place with a dentist, with an average wait of 12 months to book a routine appointment or check-up.
Clearly the Government must invest a great deal more time into directing resources to the areas of greatest need so as to ensure that people are able to see a dentist when they need to. There may be arrangements for emergency access but that does nothing to contribute to long term dental health.
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