Struggling to find a dentist and not sure what to do? We have the answers
Earlier this year, you might have seen a BBC News report about NHS dentistry shortages across the country, including in Hertfordshire. At the time that report was published, only 16% of dental practices in Hertfordshire were taking on new NHS patients for appointments.
Since then, we have continued to hear from many patients who can’t get to see a dentist - whether they are in pain or not.
Here, we’ve pulled together some information and suggestions about what you can do.
Urgent dental care
If you have pain, swelling, or bleeding that is having an impact on eating and sleeping, you can call 111. They will triage* you and make an urgent appointment for you as soon as possible.
Things to bear in mind:
- Do be aware that the urgent treatment could be offered anywhere in Hertfordshire - depending on where there are spaces available.
- At present, there are not appointments available to provide treatment for 'cosmetic' work - such as cracked or broken teeth where there is no pain or infection.
If you are given a telephone triage with a dentist and they prescribe antibiotics (they can't carry out treatment where there is an active infection), you need to insist that they make you an appointment for when that course of antibiotics finishes. Otherwise you could end up having to call 111 again.
* Triaging is when an appropriately trained professional makes an assessment of the seriousness of your condition.
Routine dental care
As mentioned above, there is a nationwide shortage of NHS dental appointments which means many practices are not taking any new patients. This is a knock-on effect from the 3-month closure of all dental practices at the start of the pandemic in spring 2020. There are a number of reasons why the system is still trying to catch up, which you can read about below.
How to access routine NHS dentistry
The best way to find dental practices in your area is to use the NHS ‘find a dentist’ search engine.
When you type your postcode in, it will show you a list of all the practices in a 10-mile radius of that postcode. Under each practice name it will display:
- whether they are accepting new adults
- whether they are accepting new children, and,
- whether they are accepting new adults eligible for free dental care (e.g. on a low income, pregnant, etc).
Some practices may not have updated their listing recently, or state that access to the service is by referral only. However, practices have been made aware of contract reforms coming in the near future, including: a requirement to update their listing on a quarterly basis, increased flexibility in the use of other dental professionals undertaking NHS treatment, and more personalised patient recall schedules. These measures, and others announced, should lead to an improvement in the availability of appointments soon. You can read more about the plans here.
In the meantime, one important fact to bear in mind, is that you don’t have to go to a practice near your home. You can go to a practice anywhere that you’re willing to travel to, such as near your workplace or near a friend/relative that you regularly visit (for example).
Once you’ve found practices you would be willing to attend, you will need to call them to ask whether you can make an appointment. If not, you can ask to join their waiting list (if they have one). You are allowed to be on the waiting list for more than one practice if you wish. Unfortunately, you may still have a long wait, potentially several months, but there are currently no other options for NHS dental patients.
What is Healthwatch Hertfordshire doing about this?
We are continuing to record your feedback and queries anonymously on our database to make the local Commissioners aware of the problems with NHS dental care in Hertfordshire.
NHS England is well aware of the situation, and that some improvements can be made. However, only a nationwide alteration of the NHS dental contract (that dentists agree to when they take on NHS patients) will lead to a large-scale change to the availability of NHS dental care. The reforms mentioned above are just the beginning.
The Secretary of the Local Dental Committee wrote a statement that we published on our website at the end of 2021, which included information about problems with the 2006 NHS contract, which still have not changed.
Our national body Healthwatch England, as well as a huge number of other local Healthwatch, have been crucial in getting this problem debated in Parliament. Thankfully, this did lead to those interim changes to the dental contract that patients should be starting to see some benefit from. Healthwatch England published an article on the actions taken by NHS England here.
What's next?
It is expected that the NHS dental contract will be transferred from NHS England to the local Integrated Care Boards in spring-2023. This will allow each area in England to determine for itself how NHS dentistry services can be best delivered and create their own contracts.
Our Integrated Care Board covers Hertfordshire & West Essex. You can find out more about their role here.
What can you do?
Help shape the future of NHS dentistry in Herts by telling us what you’d like from your local dental services – we’d love to hear from you. You can do this by contacting us in one of the following ways:
01707 275978 (leave a message when prompted)
