MP seeks reforms on NHS dentistry
'Shocking' numbers of people in Eastbourne need emergency dental treatment in hospital because of a severe lack of access to NHS dentists, says MP Nigel Waterson.
It was revealed this week that an alarming number of people across East Sussex Downs and Weald need emergency treatment in hospital because of a lack of access to NHS dentists and those urgent admissions are a direct result of patients not having an NHS dentist who is normally able to treat them in an emergency.
The new figures extracted by the Conservatives show that across the country, 22,000 people had to be admitted to hospital for emergency dental treatment last year. In East Sussex Downs and Weald, which covers the Eastbourne area, 131 people received emergency dental treatment in hospitals, costing the local NHS an estimated 78,024.
Mr Waterson said most of that has to be borne by already over-stretched Accident and Emergency departments.
He said, "NHS figures show that 48 per cent of the population across East Sussex Downs and Weald have not been seen by an NHS dentist in the last two years.
"These figures underline once again this Government's appalling failure on NHS dentistry. Forty- eight per cent of people in our area have been unable to see an NHS dentist. It comes as no surprise that 131 people have been forced to attend hospital last year for emergency dental care – straining our over-stretched A&E departments still further.
"We need to cut out Labour's waste and bureaucracy in NHS dentistry and restore access to an NHS dentist to the million people who have lost one under this Government."
The Conservative Party has announced a series of reforms to improve NHS dentistry care.
Mr Waterson added, "The plan proposes creating new incentives for dentists to spend more time on preventative dental care, improving oral health and reducing long-term costs, restoring access to an NHS dentist for the one million patients who have lost it under Labour, by removing costly bureaucracy and cutting out waste, using money spent on carrying out unnecessary treatments to reintroduce dental screening for children in schools and ensuring that taxpayer-trained dentists work for the NHS for at least five years."
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Weather for Hastings
Sunday 12 February 2012
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Light snow
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
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