2 weeks Ago
More than two million people across the country are facing "horrors from the Victorian era" while unable to get dental treatment. According to a letter from NHS England send out to local health leaders there are 2.2million people in this state.
Bolton has been one of many areas around the country where people have struggled, with a range of government measures set to be rolled out to try and tackle the crisis. The NHS England letter said: “This calculation gives a total estimate of 2.2 million people each year, 3.
5 per cent of the population, who are currently unable to get an NHS dentist appointment, and who have a treatment need. “It is assumed that these are the people who would require urgent care appointments.” A range of measures are being brought in to address the dentistry crisis (Image: Alamy/PA) The dentistry crisis has hit both old and young in Bolton over recent years, with the borough expected to benefit from emergency extra appointments.
Around 700,000 are expected to be rolled out across the country, 18,000 of them in Greater Manchester with areas most in need like Bolton set to be the biggest priorities. But critics like British Dental Association general dental practice committee chair Shiv Parpary have wanted that measures like these do no go far enough in addressing the crisis. He said: “So, it seems a new Government discovered the need for urgent care, but chose just to cover a third of it.
This is austerity on stilts. “Rather than eliminating DIY dentistry , the Treasury is ensuring we keep seeing horrors that belong in the Victorian era. “Ministers have a moral responsibility to ensure no patient is ever left in this position.
” ALSO READ: New dental practice opens in Bolton ALSO READ: Concerns as thousands of patients for every Bolton NHS dentist ALSO READ: Dentist steps in to help patients left in lurch after dentistry firm folds The government has said that the extra urgent appointments will come alongside a range of other measures aimed at rebuilding NHS dentistry across the country. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “NHS dentistry is broken after years of neglect. “We are committed to rebuilding it, and delivering an extra 700,000 urgent dentistry appointments is just a first step.
“We are also reforming the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services and tackle regional disparities, and our ‘golden hello’ scheme to recruit dentists to areas in need has hundreds of posts advertised.”.
