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One in 10 England dentists stop offering NHS care, analysis suggests · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Here in the UK, many of us will have experienced
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  Speaker 1: the frustration of being unable to book an NHS dentist appointment.
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  Speaker 1: Now there's a warning that accessing the service is becoming
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  Speaker 1: even harder. New research by the Nuffield Trust shows that
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  Speaker 1: one in ten dental practices in England have stopped offering
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  Speaker 1: NHS general dentistry over the past decade. Chloe Hayward reports.
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  Speaker 2: Alan hasn't seen a dentist for years. He doesn't need
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  Speaker 2: to anymore.
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  Speaker 3: I've just got one left. Lost the two front ones
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  Speaker 3: many years ago and they gave me a plate to
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  Speaker 3: replace those. But what with everything aged and such, the
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  Speaker 3: teeth have just gone.
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  Speaker 2: Like so many around the country, where Alan lives in Somerset,
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  Speaker 2: it is nearly impossible to get an NHS dentist appointment.
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  Speaker 3: I gave up on it, really, because it was just
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  Speaker 3: too difficult to get in to see anybody. And, of course,
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  Speaker 3: with the financial implications of poverty Paying for a dent,
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  Speaker 3: it just put me off, so I didn't bother. Good morning, Shelley.
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  Speaker 2: Morning, Vivac. Vivac Shah runs three dental practices in Northamptonshire.
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  Speaker 4: How's the morning looking?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, good.
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  Speaker 4: Busy.
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  Speaker 2: He still treats his NHS patients, even though this side
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  Speaker 2: of his business loses him money.
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  Speaker 4: We're subsidising the NHS system through our private patients, and long-term,
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  Speaker 4: that is not sustainable.
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  Speaker 2: Vivac no longer takes on new NHS patients and each
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  Speaker 2: year considers ending his NHS contract. Zoe has been coming
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  Speaker 2: here for over 20 years as an NHS patient and
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  Speaker 2: she's worried.
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  Speaker 5: Please don't pack up, guys. That's all I can say.
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  Speaker 5: It's worrying, you know. It's not us, it's the kids
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  Speaker 5: that are coming up. What are they going to do?
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  Speaker 5: You know, the youngsters that are coming up.
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  Speaker 1: It's scary, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Dentists like Mavak are calling for a complete overhaul of
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  Speaker 2: the contract.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's been a crisis point for over ten years.
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  Speaker 4: No government seems to be prepared to hold its hand
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  Speaker 4: up or to make real reform changes that take into
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  Speaker 4: account what dentists want. So I see this as a
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  Speaker 4: slow death.
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  Speaker 2: New data shows that one in ten dental practices in
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  Speaker 2: England have stopped providing NHS treatment over the past decade.
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  Speaker 2: That's around 600 practices handing back their NHS contracts in
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  Speaker 2: a near universal decline in access. The picture varies across England. Cornwall,
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  Speaker 2: Devon and Northamptonshire have seen some of the biggest reductions
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  Speaker 2: in NHS dental provision. In Cornwall, more than a quarter
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  Speaker 2: of practices that once offered NHS treatment no longer do so.
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  Speaker 2: A combination of increased costs and a lack of dentists
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  Speaker 2: willing to treat NHS patients are to blame. So does
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  Speaker 2: this data show you that the NHS dental services are broken?
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  Speaker 6: We've essentially lost dentistry as a universal NHS service. It's
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  Speaker 6: no longer something that covers everybody in England. It's a
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  Speaker 6: two-tier system where many people have to go private. And
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  Speaker 6: if they don't, essentially their options are going to be
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  Speaker 6: either simply to suffer from pain or to come to
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  Speaker 6: other parts of the NHS, which aren't supposed primarily to
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  Speaker 6: be there for dental problems.
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  Speaker 2: The government says it's committed to improving access to NHS dentistry.
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  Speaker 2: But with hundreds of practices leaving the system, the contract
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  Speaker 2: is no longer deemed fit for purpose by those dentists
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  Speaker 2: that are still trying to provide those services. Chloe Haywood,
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  Speaker 2: BBC News.
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  Speaker 1: For more on the difficulties of finding an NHS dentist
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  Speaker 1: and the regional differences, I've been speaking to our health editor,
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  Speaker 1: Hugh Pym.
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  Speaker 7: People have been saying for a long time in different
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  Speaker 7: parts of the country there are dental deserts. These are
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  Speaker 7: patients who can't find an NHS dentist, have to travel
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  Speaker 7: a very long way to find one and now we've
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  Speaker 7: got this research from Nuffield Trust which is looking at
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  Speaker 7: the number of practices and the figures we've heard of
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  Speaker 7: one in ten closing their NHS bit of practice since 2017,
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  Speaker 7: 600 fewer. That is a pretty stark reminder but yes
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  Speaker 7: there are regional variations so The biggest fall has been
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  Speaker 7: in the southwest of England and the east of England
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  Speaker 7: and actually the biggest has been in Cornwall. More than
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  Speaker 7: a quarter fewer dentists offering NHS care there. So real
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  Speaker 7: challenges certainly in those parts of the country.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a sign that people are going without dental
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  Speaker 1: care and therefore their health is suffering?
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  Speaker 7: Yes, and you only need to hear stories from A
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  Speaker 7: & E about children coming in with teeth that need surgery,
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  Speaker 7: dental surgery. to realise this is a really serious bit
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  Speaker 7: of this problem. Families who don't have access to a
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  Speaker 7: dentist or don't know enough about it. You heard there
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  Speaker 7: in Chloe's piece about a gentleman who essentially was left
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  Speaker 7: with one tooth. And, you know, this is a major
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  Speaker 7: health problem as well as a social problem. Of course,
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  Speaker 7: the number of dentists overall has gone up because that
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  Speaker 7: includes those offering private dental care. And the dental... world
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  Speaker 7: are saying that they just can't afford to carry on
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  Speaker 7: doing it because the money they're getting and the way
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  Speaker 7: the contract's drawn up is not right.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the government saying they're.
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  Speaker 7: Going to do about this? Well successive governments have talked
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  Speaker 7: about reform of the dental contract and said we need
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  Speaker 7: to get this sorted including this government. A few changes
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  Speaker 7: have been made they're saying that all newly qualified dentists
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  Speaker 7: must work for three years in the NHS in NHS
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  Speaker 7: care they're saying more training is being laid on and
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  Speaker 7: the contract is going to be amended. But there's still
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  Speaker 7: a lot of scepticism amongst dentists, having heard it all before,
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  Speaker 7: whether really viable radical change will ever happen.
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  Speaker 1: Our health editor, Hugh Pym, speaking to us earlier.