Brian Dooks

DENTAL care across many areas of North Yorkshire remains insufficient to meet demands for NHS treatment, health chiefs have admitted.

The situation is leading to more action to increase NHS provision across the county amid evidence thousands of people have lost access to NHS care since a new contract for dentists was introduced in 2006.

Since then, when North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) took over responsibility for commissioning dental care, an additional £1.9m has been invested in four new dental practices in Harrogate, Scarborough, York and Richmond, serving 20,000 people.

But the PCT's director of commissioning and service development Jane Marshall admits in a report more needs to be done.

Extra services are needed in Selby, rural areas around Harrogate, Ryedale, Whitby, Pateley Bridge, Northallerton and Richmond.

She said provision still largely reflected the historic pattern of delivery when dentists decided for themselves where to set up business, leading to uneven access across North Yorkshire, with up to three times as much provision per head in some parts than others.

The worst access is in rural areas, where patients face travelling long distances, and among people in deprived areas.

"It is now clear that the commissioning of dentistry requires a more dynamic approach if the PCT is to ensure that the majority of the population can access NHS dental care and that new patients are able to receive treatment," she said.

Although the proportion of the population accessing NHS dentist services is slightly above the England average at 52.8 per cent, fewer people are now receiving NHS care than two years ago. Dentists have recently quit the NHS in Pateley Bridge, Leyburn and Northallerton.

Under a new strategy, patients who have not received dental care for at least last two years will be given priority as the PCT aims to provide services to a minimum of 60 per cent of the population.

Provision is also been made to treat 400 families of service personnel who are returning to North Yorkshire as a result of Ministry of Defence changes, including the expansion of Catterick Garrison.

An extra £2m will be spent before March on improving services for routine care as well as orthodontic services for people requiring work to correct and prevent abnormalities, where availability of care is currently described as "sparse".

Ms Marshall said: "The scale of investment required to bring about improvements to access to NHS dentistry and orthodontic services is considerable."

In the interim, to ensure that additional dental work does take place in the current financial year, the PCT has offered dental practices who are already achieving their current contract values the opportunity to extent their contracts.

The trust is also reviewing out-of-hours provision, orthodontic care, services for vulnerable patients, minor oral surgery, restorative dentistry, a broader range of oral health promotional activity and development of skills and sustainability within the current service.

As part of its plans the PCT is encouraging bidders for new services to identify innovative solutions to improving access to dental care.

n The Yorkshire Post's Stop the Rot campaign calls for improved access to NHS dentistry for tens of thousands of people across the region currently denied it.