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22,000 local people forced to travel miles for dental treatment - Burstow
November 5, 2003 5:00 PM
In his first Parliamentary Health Questions as Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary local MP Paul Burstow tackled Health Ministers over the continued crisis within NHS dentistry and attacked the Government's record on investment in the health service.
Whilst national figures show that over half of the population are not registered with NHS dentists, the situation in Sutton and Merton PCT is considerably worse. 59% of the population in Sutton and Merton PCT are not registered with NHS dentists, which means that almost 220,000 local people are forced to travel miles to their nearest dental treatment centre in order to see a dentist.
The low registration rate in the local area is particularly worrying in light of research released this summer which revealed that tooth decay amongst children in Sutton and Merton PCT was a third higher than the national government target. The research showed that the average number of decayed or cavity filled teeth for five-year-old children in the boundaries of the Trust is 32% above the government targets set for 2003 to reduce tooth decay.
Paul Burstow's comments on Tuesday in Parliament are the latest in his continued campaign to improve access to NHS dental treatment for local people.
He commented:-
"Many people cannot now register with a dentist at all. Ministers are putting all their money into schemes providing dental access centres. Patients have to travel miles to get dental care they should receive at their local dental surgery."
"The government should be providing local care for local people. No central guidelines even exist on the distance that a patient should have to travel to receive dental treatment."
"The failure to increase registrations is an indictment of Ministers' failure to restore the NHS to what it should be: offering universal, comprehensive and local preventative care for all those that need it."
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