Parliamentary interest in Healthwatch dentistry report

1) House of Lords Debate on 'NHS Dentistry'

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath tabled a debate 'To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Healthwatch England's report 'What people have told us about NHS dentistry', published on 20 December 2021, what steps they are taking to address the issues faced by those attempting to access NHS dental care.'

2) House of Lords Debate on 'Health and Care Bill'

Lord Hunt also referred to the difficulties in people getting access to dentistry. He acknowledged and recognised Healthwatch work on this saying: "Many adults and children are suffering in pain because of their lack of access [to dentistry]. The Government must focus on this and develop a proper strategy. I pay tribute to Healthwatch for its work in this area—it has had a lot of interest from members of the public—and to the BDA for its briefings".

3) Written Parliamentary Question on HW dentistry report

Lord Jones of Cheltenham tabled the following PQ: "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Healthwatch England report 'What people have told us about NHS dentistry', published on 20 December; what assessment they have made of the particular finding that only two per cent of NHS dental practices in Gloucestershire are accepting new adult patients, while those in (1) Dorset, (2) Devon, (3) Cornwall, and (4) the Isles of Scilly, are accepting none at all; and what steps they are taking to encourage more dentists to accept NHS patients". (HL5798) (Department of Health and Social Care)

The momentum Healthwatch England successfully created around dentistry is picking up quite a bit now and it is extremely important that we ensure it continues.

We are soon to publish our local dentistry report after we recognised the huge problem people in Darlington face when trying to get an appointment.