Healthwatch England call on Government and NHS England to "fix dentistry"

The impact of COVID-19 on dental care

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have continued to hear an increasing number of negative comments about experiences of dental care. This is a trend seen across England which has prompted Healthwatch England to act.

Access to NHS dentistry has been one of the most significant issues people have raised with Healthwatch across the country over the last 18 months.

Healthwatch England are calling on the UK Government and NHS England to:

- Speed up dental contract reform

-  Provide significant and sustained funding to tackle the underlying problems of dental access and affordability.

What did people tell Healthwatch?

From July and September 2020,  Healthwatch heard from 1,313 people about their experiences of dentistry, compared to 238 people in the previous three months. In other terms, more than 4 times as many people came to Healthwatch with comments about dentistry.

Their stories show that often they were unable to get the care that they needed, leaving them in pain and at risk of serious long-term oral health issues:

• Access to dental care: The pandemic has made it difficult for most people to access both routine and emergency dental services, with many feeling unsure about when they would next see a dentist or leaving others to travel long distances to get care.

• No routine care: Although dental practices have now reopened, people are still unable to get an appointment for check-ups, hygienist appointments or fillings.

• Limited NHS appointments: People have reported struggling to access NHS dentistry because practices are either not taking on new NHS patients or have no available NHS appointments.

• Treatment still on hold: In some cases, dentists have not been able to continue treatment started before lockdown, meaning people have been left in pain and with unresolved issues, like a broken tooth.

• Access to emergency treatment: People have told us they can’t get through to their dentist when they need urgent care or are unable to access treatment if they do not meet the criteria for it.

• Affordability: Our evidence suggests practices are prioritising private patients over NHS ones or are only offering non-urgent treatment if they pay privately.

• Lack of information: Inaccurate information from the NHS 111, NHS Choices and dental practice websites can leave people frustrated and confused.

• Confusion about registration: A dental practice cannot de-register someone, but often people who have had a long gap since their last appointment are told they have been, when really what the dental practice means is that there are no available NHS appointments.

• COVID-19 measures: While practices did adapt once they reopened, not all of them understood how COVID-19 measures would impact some groups of people or didn’t follow all the measures needed to make people feel safe.