News that dental practices in Buckley and Llandudno are terminating their NHS contracts is further proof that NHS Dentistry in north Wales is in danger of becoming extinct.
That’s the view of Plaid Cymru’s North Wales MS Llyr Gruffydd after Betsi Cadwaladr health board announced that Buckley Dental Practice was ending its NHS contract on 31st March.
This devastating news comes on top of two other two dental practices in Ynys Mon and Wrexham announcing they’ll be ending their contracts this month. Even before those announcements, just 27% of people in the BCUHB area had access to NHS treatment.
For patients at those practices, they will be faced with a stark choice – cough up hundreds of pounds a year for the same service as you get now or risk going without any dental care. It’s a rotten choice and will leave the poorest with no choice at all. That’s not what the NHS is about.
Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd raised the Buckley practice as he challenged the First Minister in the Senedd Chamber on January 6th to take action to improve the situation. The Labour Government has introduced new contracts that, however well meant, are not working. New contracts are causing huge delays in treatment and that, in turn, is leading to No contracts.
Plaid Cymru has already made representations to Betsi Cadwaladr and it’s damning that the health board doesn’t even know how many patients have access to a private dentist and, therefore, how many people across the region have no dental cover at all. The long-term impact of this will be greater problems for patients down the line, but also a greater cost for the NHS as they have to deal with more serious health problems arising from rotten teeth.
The effective privatisation of our dental services over the past decade has meant a piling extra cost on families, who often have to find £600 a year for a family of four just to get access to a dentist. Actual treatment can cost thousands more per individual.
We need a re-set, a re-think. Training more dentists in the North will help in the longer term and that’s something Plaid Cymru has been campaigning for over a number of years now. But we also need immediate action from the Labour Government to ensure the next generation isn’t growing up without a dental service.
At the very least, this government needs to ensure health boards are willing to allow dentists to operate NHS contracts for under 18s – it’s very concerning that this option has been rejected by the local health board despite a request from at least one dental practice. We will continue to press for this option as a halfway house while continuing to campaign for a proper NHS dental service for all.
SIGN OUR PETITION / ARWYDDWCH EIN DEISEB
We, the undersigned, call on the Welsh Government and Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board to retain free NHS dental provision for patients at the Buckley Dental practice.In March the practice is due to hand back its NHS contract but there is still time to negotiate to ensure the retention of this essential service for under 18s as a minimum.
Rydym ni sydd wedi llofnodi isod yn galw ar Llywodraeth Cymru a Bwrdd Iechyd Betsi Cadwaladr i gadw darpariaeth ddeintyddol y GIG am ddim i gleifion dan 18 oed ym mhractis deintyddol Practis Deintyddol Bwcle. Ym mis Mawrth bydd y practis yn trosglwyddo ei gontract GIG yn ôl ond mae amser o hyd i drafod cadw'r gwasanaeth hanfodol yma i rai dan 18 oed.
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