DENTAL patients who say they’re having to make hour-long journeys to secure an appointment have had their views put to the Health Secretary by a Barnsley MP.
A public meeting was held for residents in Silkstone and Silkstone Common recently, which heard the toil faced by locals who are having to travel far and wide due to a lack of local places.
Their views led to Marie Tidball - MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge - securing a meeting with Health Minister Stephen Kinnock last week.
The public meeting with residents - dubbed ‘Pride of Place’ - saw residents turn out in force to complain about the state of dentistry locally and a lack of practices given the constituency’s villages are often rural-based.
“It was great to meet with the Health Minister in Parliament to raise the urgent need for better access to NHS dentistry in our communities,” Marie said.
“During the Pride in Place meetings I hold right across the constituency, I listen to people tell me time again how difficult it is to get an NHS dentistry place, leaving people having to travel far away, resorting to expensive private treatment or not have access to the care they need at all.
“Following my Silkstone and Silkstone Common meeting, I raised the lack of access for NHS dentistry particularly in our rural areas in Parliament, especially in High Green, Dodworth, Pilley and Tankersley
“It was good to hear from the minister about the work the government is doing to roll out urgent appointments, introducing supervised toothbrushing for children in deprived areas, and modernising dental contracts to improve training and staffing.
“I know there’s lots more to do, so I’ll be writing to South Yorkshire ICB and the Health Secretary to raise these campaigns further.”
New figures reveal that the government is on track to deliver millions more dental appointments this year, with 1.8 million additional treatments already delivered.
The government pledged to deliver 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments and integrated care boards (ICBs) have commissioned nearly one million appointments in line with this commitment.
However, the amount of dentists available to see patients has dropped by 21 per cent since the pandemic struck in March 2020, when practices stopped all non-urgent treatment, leading to a growing backlog.
Marie added: “Some constituents are having to travel 20 miles, taking up to an hour-and-a-half, to get to an NHS dentist appointment.
“This issue affects people right across my constituency, with many being forced to go private, pay additional transport costs or go without an appointment until they need urgent hospital treatment all pushing up their cost of living.
“My top priority is delivering on the changes that will make life better in our communities.
“It was clear from our meeting that difficulties getting NHS dentistry appointments in local communities like Silkstone and Silkstone Common is creating huge barriers to good dental care and driving up the cost of living.
“I’ll also holding more events across our communities to make sure I can raise key local concerns, like NHS dentistry, in Parliament directly.”
