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My
mole at No 10 tells me Labour will supply each of us with
a pair of pliars until it sorts out the NHS dentist shortage
- Letter to the Daily Mail from
Derek Kay, Barton-on-Sea, HANTS. - April 6, 2005
Why
our country's dental service is in decay
As
an NHS dentist of 25 years standing, all I have ever wanted
to do is treat patients to the best of my ability. But over
the past 12 months, I have watched this hideous bureaucratic
contract do its best to destroy this idea,
The
targeting system has made it impossible to accept high-need
patients, and a lack of funding has meant dentists are idle
while patients need treatment.
The
problem is exacerbated by increasing numbers of patients
who don't attend their appointments. This is because they
cannot afford the inflated charges and also because we cannot
find patients for not turning up.
Consequently,
we are having to offer appointments to time-wasters, who
have no intention of showing up, while turning away people
in need.
- Letter
to the Daily Mail from Philip Martin, Leicester - April
10, 2007
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Half
the country has no dentist
1
in 3 children are not seeing an NHS dentist
One
million more patients have lost their NHS dentist
How
half of dentists turn their backs on NHS patients
At
last, Blair admits he broke pledge on dentists
Dentists
sent on holiday by hard-up NHS
From
new dawn to debacle
Two-thirds
'go without a dentist'
We
use NHS dentists, ministers tell (G) Brown
New
contract leaves another 1.4m without an NHS dentist
'Reforms'
are destroying NHS dentistry
1,600
dentists quit NHS in protest at Labour reforms
I've
been forced to abandon all my patients
Hundreds
of Scottish dentists set to leave NHS due to Executive funding
gaps
Dentists
to ditch millions of NHS patients
7
out of 10 Dentists to quit the NHS
Children
will lose free dental care in NHS shake-up
Blame
lack of dentists on abysmal NHS fees
10,000
dentists have quit Health Service since 1997
Dentists
could dump 8million NHS patients
6,000
struck off as their dentist quits the NHS
NHS
chiefs face mass pull-out by dentists
Dentists
in revolt over cash for shake-up of NHS dentistry
NHS dentist shortages in England are very serious. Read here,
here and
here to
find shortages are much worse in devolved Scotland
Can you find one near where you live?
9 in 10
Dentists refuse new NHS patients
by
Beezy Marsh, Health Correspondent - Daily Mail August 16, 2004
The
shocking state of NHS dentistry which leaves nine out of ten practices
refusing to take new patients is revealed today. Despite a Government
pledge that everyone should have access to a dentist when they
need one, patients are facing an unprecedented fight to find a
practice willing to take them on.
Dentists
are accused of exploiting the shortage by allowing children to
get free NHS care only if their parents join the practice as private
patients. Youngsters who are not given proper advice on caring
for their teeth face years of pain and potentially dangerous conditions.
There is also concern that cancers, which can be spotted during
a dental check-up are going undetected, while untreated gum disease
in pregnant women has been linked to premature birth.
The
extent of the dentist shortage emerged in a Daily Mail survey
of 155 practices. Nearly 88% - 133 of them - had closed their
books to new NHS patients. Only 15 were accepting new NHS patients
- whether charge-paying or exempt - while a further seven were
accepting only adult patients exempt from NHS fees, which includes
women and those on low incomes. Ten practices which had closed
their lists to new patients said they would accept children for
NHS care, provided their parents paid to go privately.
The
survey of dentists in Hampshire, South Leeds, Bath and East Somerset,
Solihull and Swindon provides a depressing snapshot of dental
care in Britain. Department of Health figures suggest that 28
million adults and four million children have no access to NHS
dental treatment. Four in ten children now have problem teeth
by the time they start school. Experts warn that in some areas
levels of decay among children are returning to those seen more
than 30 years ago. Some surgeries have reported children coming
in with their milk teeth reduced to blackened stumps.
Lester
Ellman, chairman of the British Dental Association's General Dental
Practice Committee, said: "The Government's own figures,
released a couple of weeks ago, show that England alone is short
of around 1,800 dentists. Our own figures suggest that, UK-wide,
the figure is closer to 4000."
Simon
Williams, director of policy at the Patients Association, said:
"We were promised by the Government a few years ago that
we would have access to dentists when we needed it, and this shows
that we still haven't got it. The fact that some practices have
instituted the quasi-ethical practice of accepting children for
NHS care only if their parents go privately is tantamount to imposing
charges through the back door. Parents are effectively being forced
to subsidise their children's dental care."
The
National Childbirth Trust said it was concerned that pregnant
women and unborn babies could be harmed by the shortage. Policy
Officer Rosie Dodds said: "Prevention of gum disease is particularly
important in pregnancy, as research shows it is associated with
premature birth for some women."
The
scale of the crisis in dentistry was dramatically illustrated
in February with the opening of a surgery in Scarborough, East
Yorkshire. Hundreds of people were pictured queueing from dawn
to register with the clinic- the first to open in the town for
several years.
In
1999, Tony Blair promised to deal with the problem of disappearing
dentists. He told the Labour Conference that 'everyone within
two years will be able once again to see an NHS dentist just by
phoning NHS Direct.' But the Department of Health's figures show
that only 44% of adults and 60% of children were registered with
NHS dentists last year. In some areas only one in five adults
is registered.
Among
the worst hit, according to figures from the Dental Practice Board,
is East Hampshire Primary Care Trust area - covering Havant and
Portsmouth - where 19% of the adult population has an NHS dentist.
Of 27 NHS dentists in the area, 26 have closed their lists to
new patients. Only one practice will accept new NHS patients who
are exempt from paying charges, including children, expectant
mothers or those with a baby up to 12 months old, and people on
low incomes.
Five
practices which have closed their lists to NHS patients will accept
children - provided their parents pay to go privately for dental
care. At the Greenaway Practice in Denmead, the receptionist said
there would be a waiting list of up to two months for the first
appointment. In South Leeds, 28 out of 31 dental practices had
closed their lists to new NHS patients. Only one was accepting
new patients, while two would take on only NHS patients exempt
from charges. In Bath and North Somerset, 31 out of 36 dentists
have closed their lists to new NHS patients.
The
Government says it is tackling the crisis by opening 170 new student
places at English Dental Schools. However, these dentists wil
not be practising until 2010. Health Secretary John Reid said
an extra £368million was being poured into NHS dentistry
and 1,000 more dentists would be recruited by October next year.
A third of these will come from overseas.
He added: "We're also reforming the dental system via a new
contract for dentists that will get rid of bureaucracy through
new ways of working." He said the new contract would address
the issue of dentists taking children on for NHS treatment on
condition that their parents sign up privately, by giving health
trusts greater power to influence dentists.
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Indian
dentists fast-tracked into our N H S By
Jenny Hope - Daily Mail November 18, 2004
Dentists
from as far away as India are being 'fast-tracked' into
the NHS. Extra sittings of exams are being held to clear
a backlog of those from non-EU countries who want to work
in the UK.
So
far this year, 181 qualified dentists from outside the EU
have passed the International Qualifying Exam, which they
need to before practising here. This is alredy 120% up on
last year's total of 80. Health Minister, rosie Winterton
said: "By increasing the number of exam sittings, the
number of dentiests able to work in the UK is increasing.
We are targeting those dentists by informing them of the
vacancies available in the NHS and their benefits."
England
has a shortfall of 1,850 dentists and Health Secretary John
Reid has pledged to bring an extra 1,000 into the NHS by
October 2005. In addition to foreign recruits, 170 new places
are being opened at English dental schools. However, these
students will not be practising until 2010.
The
overseas initiative has raised fears of poaching. Ian Wylie,
chief executive of the British Dental Association said:
"India, for instance, has one dentist to every 30,000
people. UK has one for every 2000."
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Dentists in NHS row with Deputy PMPrescott
- read the story here.
"Anyone still able to obtain
dental treatment under the NHS should count themselves lucky,
and not expect it to last much longer," writes B.D.Skinner,
Chairman of the Enfield and Haringey Dental Commitee, in a letter
to a national newspaper in March 2004.
The problem isn't organisational
but financial following two decades of underfunding," Mr
Skinner went on. "For example, a local 14 year-old knocked
out two front teeth while cycling and lost the teeth which might
have been re-implanted. I made him a denture for which I received
an NHS fee of £58.10. out of which I have to pay the dental
lab bill as well as my nurse and all other business expenses.
The lab fee alone was £61. This nonsense is repeated throughout
the NHS fee scale and will be locked into the new dental contract."
Mr Skinner blames Dentists for
too long cross-subsidising "pathetic NHS payments" with
private income, and said that the new method of dentists' NHS
remuneration will add no new money to a system in which only a
four-fold increase in fees will stop younger dentists moving to
the private sector in droves. "Older practitioners are rapidly
moving towards retirement and will take their altruism with them,"
he ended pessimistically.
Dentists are quitting the NHS
because private charges are almost double what they would receive
for the same work on the NHS. As a result, just 44% of adults
and 60% of children were registered with NHS Dentists last year.
Labour MP for the Falmouth and Camborne Constituency, Ms Candy
Atherton, wrote in her e-mail news after meeting the Minister
involved at the end of March: "Long term I think the package
offered to dentists is good, and dentists from other European
countries seem to agree, as they are taking up jobs here."
"The crisis in NHS dentistry
is to be tackled with 1000 new recruits," reported Beezy
Marsh, Health Correspondent, Daily Mail, July 17, 2004. "with
a third coming from overseas - the Government said yesterday."
There
was a tacit admission by Reid that a 1999 pledge by Tony Blair,
that all patients would be able within two years to see an NHS
dentist when they need one, had not been met. Health
Secretary, John Reid, hopes to attract the new dentists by Oct.
2005, after the next General Election. Don't
hold your breath that this pledge will fare any better than the
last, because the crisis in dentistry is expected to worsen with
the shortage of dental surgeons topping 5000 in seven years, according
to Department of Health fore-casts.
Britain is currently 1,850 dentists short, but by 2011 the deficit will have at least doubled and may even have tripled. The shortage in seven years is likely to stand somewhere between 3,640 and 5,100, the Department of Health conceded in a report published on July 23, 2004.
These figures emerged a week after Health Secretary Dr John Reid announced a £368million investment to recruit 1,000 extra dentists - a third of them from overseas - to the Health Service by October next year.
In 1999, Tony Blair promised that within two years everyone would be able to see an NHS dentist. Yet just 44% of adults and 60% of children were registered with an NHS dentist last year. Two months ago a comparison of European countries ranked Britain last in terms of dentists per head of population - Greece has nearly three times as many while both France and Germany have twice as many.
Andrew Lansley, Tory health spokesman, said:
"Labour are getting even further away from meeting Mr Blair's
promise that everyone would have access to NHS dentistry by Septemer
2001."
Dentists
in revolt over cash for shake-up of NHS dentistry
The
following letter to the Editor
of the Daily Mail from Dr Donald F. MacKenzie, of Solent House
Dental Centre, Lymington, Hants, was published on May 27, 2004.
The
British Dental Association blamed the crisis on the lack of places
at University Dental Schools. There are only 800 places a year
at Britain's 13 Dental Schools, which are hugely oversubscribed.
BDA Chairman John Renshaw said:"What's needed, as we have
told the Government repeatedly, is a significant increase in the
number of undergraduate training places and the funding to support
this."
At
a meeting on June 11, 2004,
Labour Minister Rosie Winterton was jeered and laughed at by some
of Britains's leading dentists who accused the Labour Government
of not only under-funding, but also for a year of deadlock on
plans to reform the NHS dental service.
So
is the Government stalling until sufficient foreign dentists are
imported?
Current
and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running
for election could share a platform at public forums in every
constituency. They would be presented with the results of
polls on this issue expressed by voters in their constituency.
The
candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their
Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they
intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters. Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged
and the results published on this web site.
Here
is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in
the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective
MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote.
This example deals with the proposed
EU Constitutional Treaty.
Your letters would
end: "If you do not answer this letter,
I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government line.
I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election. Here's
an example on one to force Tony Blair to resign:
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Dear
Despite
his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past
year of the serious risk to our security of Saddam
Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister
Blair has admitted, that the threat was non-existent.
For that critical error of judgement and for his gross
incompetence in handling this very important issue,
I ask you to take immediate steps to ensure that Tony
Blair does the honourable thing and resign without
delay..
I
would therefore be much obliged if you would propose
and help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence'
in Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority,
would leave the PM with no option but to resign.
If
I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you
will continue to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister.
In such circumstances I shall not vote for you in
the forthcoming General Election.
Signed:
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Why not create
a questionnaire that you send to all candidates in your constituency,
getting them to give yes/no answers to questions of your choice,
and ending it with the same paragraph(above).
Download
a printable example of the questionnaire.
It
is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing
themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives
in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in
their own constituency, even if this means going against their
personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their
case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency,
they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view
of those who elect them.
