Concerns raised over NHS dentist access in Bradford
A health watchdog has raised “major concerns” about access to NHS dentists in Bradford.
A survey by Healthwatch revealed that 43% of adults and 30% of children in the area did not have access to an NHS dentist, with some being forced to undertake DIY dentistry in order to remove their own teeth.
The watchdog said that a scheme put forward in April by NHS England to treat more than 18,000 patients had not materialised, although NHS England stated that access to NHS dental care had increased in the city and was higher than that across England.
Healthwatch surveyed 1,019 people, and their results showed that of the 438 who did not have access to routine NHS dental care, 10% had attended accident and emergency as a result.
The survey also found that 30% of parents said their children did not have an NHS dentist, with some saying their children had never been to see a dentist. This lack of access to routine dental care for families was said by the survey to “undermine public health work on prevention and education”.
This lack of access to NHS dentistry was also shown last month, when Healthwatch found that only two practices in the whole of West Yorkshire were taking on new NHS patients.
One respondent to the survey said they had been trying to find a dentist for eight years, adding that they “ended up extracting one of my own wisdom teeth, which in this day and age is ludicrous.”
NHS England said that between August 2015 and 2016, the number of patients seen in Bradford rose by 3,450. It went on to say that 56.2% of Bradford’s population had seen an NHS dentist in August 2016 compared to 55.1% across England.
