Can you get an NHS dentist?

[megilleland]

The Guardian 1st May 2022:

‘Dental deserts’ form in England as dentists quit NHS, experts warn

Patients struggle to get treatment as report says health service has lowest number of dentists for a decade

‘My teeth still hurt’: patients unable to get on to NHS dentists’ lists

The number of dentists providing NHS care in England fell from 23,733 at the end of 2020 to 21,544 at the end of January this year, according to the latest NHS figures, which have been obtained by the Association of Dental Groups (ADG) under freedom of information laws.

Given that dentists each have a caseload of about 2,000 patients, the depletion of the workforce has left an estimated 4m people without access to NHS care. The NHS now has the smallest number of dentists it has had for a decade, according to the ADG, which represents major chains of surgeries.

Access to NHS dental care is now so limited that people in some areas are forced to wait three years for an appointment. The difficulty obtaining treatment is one of the public’s main sources of frustration with the health service, with just one in three people satisfied with dental services.

Many are forced to go private, after seeking an NHS dentist in vain, in order to have problems resolved. Some have rung dozens of surgeries in their area in a vain quest to be accepted as an NHS patient, or had to travel outside their home area to get it. A growing number of dental surgeries do little or no NHS-funded work, citing problems with the dental contract.

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I am resigned to go private as The NHS has been ruined by this Conservative government. Their plan of creative chaos is working wonders and I see Bill Gates is winding us up for another spate of Coronavirus and new vaccines - worse than the last lot.