An alarming number of people
across
Cambridgeshire
need emergency
dental treatment in hospital
because of a lack of access
to
NHS dentists, it was
revealed this week. The high
number of hospital
treatments is a direct
result of patients not
having an NHS dentist who is
normally able to treat them
in an emergency.
·
New figures obtained by the
Conservatives show that
across the country, 22,000
people had to be admitted to
hospital for emergency
dental treatment in the last
year alone. These emergency
hospital admissions are
costing the NHS £13 million
a year.
·
In Cambridgeshire alone, 141
people received emergency
dental treatment in
hospitals, costing the local
NHS an estimated
£84,000. Most of
this has to be borne by
already over-stretched A&E
departments.
·
This comes as the latest NHS
figures show that 51% of the
population across the
Cambridgeshire PCT area have
not been seen by an NHS
dentist in the last two
years.
Malcolm Moss, MP for
North East Cambridgeshire,
said:
“Once again, the Labour
Government’s appalling
failure on NHS dentistry
comes to light. Over half of
people living in the
Cambridgeshire PCT area
have been unable
to see an NHS dentist. It
comes as no surprise that as
many as 141 people in the
local area have been forced
to hospital for
emergency dental care
– straining our
over-stretched A&E
departments still further.
“We need to cut Labour’s
waste and bureaucracy in NHS
dentistry and restore access
to an NHS dentist to the
millions who have lost one
under this Government.
Conservatives will scrap
Labour’s bureaucratic dental
contract and restore the
right for patients to
register with dentists. This
is crucial to developing an
NHS dentistry that is fit
for purpose.”
