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Patients pull own teeth as NHS dental crisis deepens
PATIENTS are pulling out of "rotting" NHS dental services and even extracting their own teeth following the failure of Government reforms, a damning survey reports today.
The largest poll of more than 5,000 patients paints a highly-critical picture of creaking NHS dental care which has forced many people to go private.
It finds patients are refusing treatment due to the high costs and are even resorting to carrying out do-it-yourself extractions.
More than 1,100 patients from the region took part in the Dentistry Watch survey by Patient and Public Involvement forums throughout England.
They decided to test patient opinions after receiving a huge number of complaints in the wake of the introduction of last year's NHS dental contract which was designed to improve access and simplify charges.
In Yorkshire the survey found:
81 per cent of private patients had quit the NHS because their dentist stopped treating NHS patients or because they could not find an NHS dentist.
38 per cent of those not using dental services said it was because there was no NHS dentist near where they live.
A third of patients on a waiting list for NHS care had waited more than a year.
95 per cent of patients receiving NHS care were happy with their treatment.
A survey of 120 dentists from the region found:
59 per cent were not accepting any more NHS patients.
90 per cent felt the new dental contract had failed to improve access to care.
59 per cent believed the quality of care had got worse.
77 per cent were aware of patients refusing treatment because of the cost.
Many dentists also reported unhappiness with the new contract claiming that it offered them no incentive to take on new patients, was too target- driven and penalised those who needed treatment most.
Half of private patients said they were forking out more than 150 a year for care. In contrast 90 per cent of NHS patients paid less than 100, although there was serious uncertainty about charges they faced. The concerns reflect those raised in the Yorkshire Post's Stop the Rot campaign which has called for a major expansion in NHS dentistry in the region amid evidence thousands are being denied routine treatment.
Today the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, which co-ordinated the survey, said patients were exiting a "rotting" NHS system.
Commission chairman Sharon Grant said it was "letting many patients down very badly".
"It appears many are being forced to go private because they don't want to lose their current trusted and respected dentist or because they just can't find a local NHS dentist," she said. "Where NHS dental services are available, people are happy with the quality of treatment provided but many find the NHS fee system confusing and expensive with some patients taking out loans to pay for treatment or more worryingly taking matters into their own hands."
She said there were important public issues at stake.
"Is NHS dentistry just for those who can't afford anything else – or can it revert to a universal, affordable, service to which people have entitlement as citizens and taxpayers? At the moment there is a massive gap between what's on the NHS dentistry tin and what's in it," she added.
The chairman of the British Dental Association, Sheffield dentist Susie Sanderson, said: "This survey underlines the significant problems caused to both dentists and patients by the new dental contract.
"The new contract has done nothing to improve access for patients and failed to allow dentists to deliver the kind of modern, preventive treatment they want to give."
The Department of Health said the survey reflected a "very narrow view of NHS dentistry" which was at odds with its picture of services used by 28 million people in the last two years.
Under the new system, local health chiefs could reinvest in new services if a dentist left the NHS.
A spokesman added: "Patient charges are now easier to understand – with just three bands of treatment instead of 400 differently priced items.
"There is also a reduction in the highest charges from 389 to 194.
"We know that patients in some areas still face difficulties and that there is more to do, but the NHS now has the foundations on which to build more high-quality local services."
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
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