People in Rutland to wait until 2025 for more NHS dental appointments
At a meeting of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR), our Chair Janet Underwood talked about the unaffordability of private dentistry for many people and relayed your experiences of trying to get an NHS dental appointment in Rutland:
"Some people are in pain … absolutely desperate. They are ringing here, there and everywhere and can’t get one”
Janet also drew attention to the fact that Rutland has the lowest rate of access to NHS dentistry of all the areas of LLR, with just 20% of people in the county having dentistry funded by the NHS in the second half of last year.
The NHS has been promising a local Dental Access Plan as part of the overall 5 Year Plan published last year. This is waiting for creation of an Oral Health Needs Assessment to identify pockets of need and plan actions to address them. This Assessment, which was originally planned for Autumn last year, now won’t be available until after August 2024.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited process to procure a new dentist to increase appointments in Rutland is moving slowly, with new provision realistically expected to begin in 2025.
Read the BBC News coverage of dental issues in Rutland
Listen to the Radio Leicester coverage of the issues and interview with Janet at 1:13:25 (1 hour, 13 minutes and 25 seconds) into this BBC Sounds clip
(The radio interview will be available on BBC Sounds until 21/8/24)
To find out which dentists may be offering NHS care in our area use Find a Dentist on the NHS website
If you have been unable to get an appointment for urgent dental care call NHS111 for help or access 111.nhs.uk
To tell us about your experiences of accessing dentistry in Rutland, leave feedback: Have your Say
