NHS Dentistry in York in Crisis

Labour’s Candidate for York Outer, Luke Charters, has expressed his concern at the lack of NHS dental places in York.

In York, only one practice on the NHS website is listed as taking on new adult NHS patients.  However, It was revealed that the waiting list for adult NHS places had approximately 3,000 names on it. This means roughly a two to three year wait for an NHS dental appointment in York. Moreover, in the Humber and North Yorkshire there were 436,192 fewer check-ups than the target.

This reflects the dire national picture for NHS dentistry with 90% of dentists across the UK not taking on new NHS patients.

Only 82% of the target for appointments was met in Humber and North Yorkshire, falling well behind North London, which was the only area in the country to hit targets.The shocking state of dentistry in Humber and North Yorkshire comes as Labour has launched its Dentistry Rescue Plan today.

Labour’s Dentistry Rescue Plan will:

●      Fill the gap of appointments with an extra 700,000 urgent and emergency dental appointments a year

●      Flood dental deserts with new dentistry graduates, with golden hellos of £20,000 for those who spend at least three years working in underserved areas

●      Supervised toothbrushing for 3-5 year-olds, to prevent children forced to hospital to have their rotting teeth pulled out

●      Reform of the dental contract, to rebuild NHS dentistry and make sure everyone who needs a dentist can get one.

Eight in ten dentists nationally have shut their doors to new NHS patients, hitting residents in Humber and North Yorkshire. One in ten people have also admitted to attempting DIY dentistry including pulling their own teeth out.

Luke Charters highlighted the NHS dentistry situation in York Outer today (Monday 24 June 2024).

Luke’s Statement:

“NHS Dentistry in York is in crisis. Only one dental practice in York is listed as taking on new adult NHS patients on the NHS website. When my team called this practice, they revealed that there is a waiting list open, but this contained 3,000 names so far. This means there is a minimum two year wait for an NHS dentist appointment for adults in York.

“The situation in York mirrors the bleak national picture, with 90% of dentists across the UK not taking on new adult NHS patients. We need a radical new approach to NHS dentistry, and to work with our heroic NHS staff to fix the system 14 years of Tory austerity has broken.

“If given the privilege of serving as York Outer’s MP, I want to work with our heroic NHS staff to ensure every resident has access to proper dental care”.