Still a gap in dental provision

ONE in 12 people across Oldham who tried to get an appointment with an NHS dentist in the last year failed to get seen.

A Department of Health survey completed by 896 people across the borough showed 321 attempted to see a dentist between April, 2009 and March this year.

Of those 295 (92 per cent) were successful and 22 (7 per cent) could not be seen. The remainder of respondents could not remember the outcome.

Across England the survey of 147,000 respondents showed 93 per cent of patients could get an appointed, 6 per cent did not and 1 per cent could not remember.

The survey carried out by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the DoH also revealed 278 Oldham patients last called their dentist to book a routine check up. The majority (90 per cent) got an appointment. In addition 56 called for an urgent appointment and 85 per cent were seen.

Included in the respondents were 150 who did not try to see an NHS dentist in the last two years.

NHS Oldham director of clinical leadership Shauna Dixon said: “We work with NHS dentists and providers to make sure people across the borough can access high quality NHS dental services when and where they need them.

“Since 2006, five new NHS dental practices have opened. These new practices mean an additional 14,000 people can be seen by a dentist per year, depending on patient needs. Over the last three years, extra funding has allowed ten existing practices to expand and improve, enabling more patients to be seen.

“Over the last few years, at any given time there have been at least five NHS dental practices taking on new patients in Oldham. We encourage people to ring our dental line, which is part of our work to ensure access to NHS dentistry.”

In total 2,890 surveys were sent out across Oldham but only 896 people replied.

The Government said the results demonstrated the scale of the challenge it faced to improve patient access.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “The proportion of people seeing an NHS dentist remains below levels before the new dental contract was introduced in March, 2006, despite three quarters of a billion pounds extra funding over five years.

“This new data shows that too many people who tried to see an NHS dentist were unable to do so, and many more have simply given up trying.

To find an NHS dentist in Oldham call 016- 622 6508.