DENTISTRY IN DECAY County councillors including me recently quizzed local health chiefs about the shortage of NHS dental treatment in our area. The national contract for NHS dentistry, and the workforce to deliver it, are said by dental service providers to be the main factors. They say there are limited financial incentives for preventative care, insufficient funding for complex treatments, and disparities in reimbursement rates between different types of treatments. Being a sole NHS dental provider is no longer seen as a long term sustainable or financially viable option for dentists. There is also no dental school in the East of England to train dentists who might then stay on to practise locally. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough was allocated twelve placements for dentists under a national incentive scheme, with one-off payments of up to £20,000 for working in under-served areas for up to three years However, only four of these twelve posts have been filled. Whatever is being done by the NHS locally to try to improve NHS dental provision, this is ultimately a national problem that needs the Government to put in place national solutions.
REPORTS ONLINE My monthly councillor reports are at www.tinyurl.com/lornasreports
MEET YOUR COUNTY COUNCILLOR I’m hoping to be at •
Coveney coffee (Village Hall), Wednesday 7 January (10:30- 11:30AM) • Little Downham Book Café (Village Hall), Wednesday 7 January (2:00-3:00PM).
Dates and times may change due to diary conflicts. Lorna 9
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