4am dental queues in Leigh, Wigan.
A report has come to light that NHS patients are queuing up outside Avenue Dental Centre in Leigh town centre from as early as 4am to receive treatment on a ‘first-come, first-serve’ basis.
The article also states that similar happenings have also been occurring in Kent, where a local practice there received 27,000 calls regarding 60 available NHS slots.
The Health and Social care Committee inquiry has deemed the current state of the service to be “totally unacceptable in the 21st century”, with a list of changes revolving around the reform of the current NHS contracts for dentists.
The British Dental Association has also urged adherence to this recovery plan, stating that it would be an “instruction manual” to save dental care under the NHS. A recovery plan was pledged by the government itself in April, but this has yet to materialise.
Statistics shared within the article:
- 12 million people in 2023 are in need of dental care, up 1 million on 2022.
- 6 million patients tried and failed to get a dental appointment in the last 24 months, with 4.4 million not bothering because they believed they would be unsuccessful
- 1.1 million patients putt off seeking dental care due to costs
- Waiting list figures estimated to be around 600,000 – almost three times more than the pre-pandemic total
My two penneth
Clearly, there is something very, very wrong with the current state of NHS dentistry. Couple the above happenings with the Stranraer story I wrote about the other day, and we quite clearly have a woefully inadequate number of available NHS dentists compared to the volume of patients still urgently seeking dental care.
New rules need to be set in motion, as well as more clear obligations for dental practices, in a time when lots of practices are juggling NHS care as well a private client lists.
1 thought on “4am dental queues in Leigh, Wigan”
Why wont the government give them more money? Is this where my taxes go? Had to wait six months just to get a fillin. Bad.