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At last, Blair admits he broke his pledge on dentists By Daniel Martin - Health Reporter - Daily Mail, April 26, 2007 Tony Blair finally admitted yesterday that Labour has failed to honour its promise to provide a Health Service dentist for everyone who wants one. In 1999, the Prime Minister pledged that 'everyone within two years will be able once again to see an NHS dentist." Eight years later, less than half the population is registered - fewer than when Labour took office in 1997. In that time, however, Mr Blair never admitted he had broken his key pledge to the electorate - until yesterday, when he was directly challenged at prime minister's questions by Liberal Democrat MP Mark Cheadle. Mr Blair replied: "It is and has been a real problem. I entirely accept that. The reason for it is very simple - even though we have increased the number of NHS dentists, we cannot stop dentists going outside the NHS if they wish to do so. They are entitled to do that and despite the fact that we are paying far more and hiring far more within the NHS we have not been able to fulfil that pledge. However, the majority of people are actually within their area able to access an NHS dentist if they want to, but that is not 100% - I accept that. It will only be dealt with ultimately by increasing still further the number of NHS dentists and that is what we intend to do." Mr Blair personally promised in September 1999 to deal with the problem of disappearing dentists. But there was no improvement and in 2004 the extent of the crisis became apparent when more than 300 people in Scarborough queued from dawn to register with a newly-opened Dutch dentist. Last month a survey by Citizens Advice found that around two million people in England who would like access to NHS dentists did not have it. Two thirds of these simply went without treatment rather than pay privately. Critics say a new dental contract, which came into force last year, has made the situation worse because dentists are leaving the NHS, angry at a revised payment scheme they say does not effectively compensate them for their work. Two months ago it emerged that many dentists were turning patients away because they performed all the treatments they were contracted to provide too early in the financial year. Tory Health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: "Labour are still in denial at the scale of the problem. It is not just that less than 100% of people can access NHS dentistry. In reality, in many places across the country, people can barely access an NHS dentist at all. In the last year since the new contract, things have got worse not better." Liberal Democrat health spokesman Sandra Gidley said: "The prime minister cannot shirk responsibility for the exodus of dentists from NHS work. It is very much his fault. It was his ill-thought out and rushed dental reforms which have caused so many dentists to opt out." A spokesman for the Health Department said: "We are turning the corner in improving access to dentistry. However, in some cases, we accept that the change may not be happening as quickly as we'd like."
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