Dear Resident,
I am absolutely delighted that, so soon after my latest local update, I have even more positive news to share with you about what the Government and I are doing to improve our local area. Many of you have reached out to me over the years to discuss the issues we have in our area on access to local NHS dentistry. I have been fully committed to addressing this issue, and have worked tirelessly in Parliament to ensure that the Government is aware of this and to fight for improvements. While the Government is taking significant steps to provide Scunthorpe with additional health facilities, more needs to be done to ensure that everyone can easily access an NHS dentist.
With that in mind, below you can find my Special Update on the newly announced NHS Dental Recovery Plan.
It was only in December that I met with the new Minister responsible for dentistry, Dame Andrea Leadsom MP, to discuss the lack of access that Scunthorpe residents face to an NHS dentist. Getting more NHS dentists here in North Lincolnshire is absolutely vital, and I highlighted this with the new Minister, to ensure that it was high on her agenda.
Earlier in the year, I also had the opportunity to raise this in Parliament. I made it clear to the Government that access to NHS dentistry was a concern for my constituents, and that we must explore options such as a ‘tie-in’ that ensure areas such as ours have an adequate number of NHS dentists. Residents should absolutely have the right to ease of access to an NHS dentist, and so I am beyond pleased that the NHS Dental Recovery Plan aims to achieve exactly that.
Watch me push for local access to NHS dentistry in the Commons Chamber.
I have also raised a number of parliamentary questions to question the Government on their efforts to improve access to NHS dentistry. You can see the questions I have raised below, as well as the answers I have received on the links included.
See the answer I received here
See the answer I received here
See the answer I received here
See the answer I received here
So what is the NHS Dental Recovery Plan? Put simply, this £200 million plan will deliver faster, simpler and fairer access to NHS dentistry. This is absolutely fantastic news, and is something that myself and my colleagues have pushed for in Parliament on numerous occasions.
Dental Vans delivering care will be in targeted coastal and rural areas where patients are most under-served. These vans will offer appointments to those in need, and will be able to perform care such as dental examinations and straightforward treatments such as fillings. The use of these mobile vans will begin later this year, while longer-term arrangements are set up.
The ‘tie-in’ consultation is due to take place this spring, ensuring that dentist graduates dedicate a portion of their time to delivering NHS care in the years following the completion of their undergraduate training. The consultation will consider the impact of these measures, and open up the potential for further measures to be put in place following the completion of the consultation.
The ‘Golden Hello’ scheme implements a financial incentive, aiming to attract dentists to underserved areas. The scheme will work with ICBs struggling to cope with patient demands, but the final locations are yet to be finalised. These £20,000 per dentist payments will be phased over 3 years, and will require a commitment from the dentist that they will stay in the area for at least 3 years. This will ensure that patients demands are met over a longer-term period.
Under the new patient premium, access to dentists will be further expanded through a limited time scheme beginning in March of this year, and ending in March 2025. For each new patient requiring treatment, dental practices will be offered an additional payment from the Government, supporting those who have been unable to receive treatment in the last two years. The payment level will be either £15 or £50 dependent on the level of care required, and will be added to the level of NHS funding they would already receive for such care. This will be a great initiative, ensuring that treatment is provided to those who require it.
Within this plan, more than 1.5 million additional NHS treatments or 2.5 million NHS appointments will be funded. There are three primary components that make up the plan. Expanding access, ensuring that those who have been unable to access care in the past 2 years will be able to do so, the launch of the ‘Smile for Life Programme’, focussed on prevention and good oral health in young children which will introduce dental outreach to primary schools in underserved areas, and the levels of dental provision will be ramped up alongside the development of the whole dental workforce.
Following its announcement, I was in the Commons to welcome in the plan, and to make sure that everyone who wanted to utilise these measures had a clear understanding of it’s implementation and what they needed to do.
Watch me question the Secretary of State on the new NHS Dental Recovery Plan
If you would like to find out any more about the NHS Dental Recovery Plan, you can do so by following the link below:
Thank you for taking the time to read this Special Update.
The announcement and implementation of this plan is welcome news, and I am pleased to see that my own recommendation of a ‘tie-in’ is to be consulted on in due course. I am very much looking forward to seeing the positive change that this plan will enact, to keep Scunthorpe smiling!
If you have any questions or concerns on this matter or any other, please do get in touch and I will do everything that I can to help. I look forward to speaking to you all again in my next update.
My very best wishes,
Holly