The Scottish Government are failing to properly support NHS dentists and risk making regular free check-ups impossible.
That’s according to Brian Whittle MSP who hit out at the SNP during a debate on the impact of the pandemic on NHS dentistry at Holyrood.
South Scotland MSP Brian spoke in the debate, introduced by the Scottish Conservatives, to highlight the concerns of dentists that the Scottish Government’s plan to withdraw financial support for them during Covid, without removing the requirement for extra hygiene measures would make providing NHS dental services unaffordable.
The party are calling for the emergency funding to be retained as the British Dental Association published research suggesting that 4 out of 5 dentists are considering scaling back their NHS work , with more than a third “likely” or “extremely likely” to stop doing NHS work altogether if they lose the additional funding.
During his speech, Brian repeated what he’d been told by dentists about the challenges of delivering NHS services without actually losing money thanks to the costs of increased PPE and other hygiene measures. With added requirements to decontaminate rooms between patients, the number of cases a dentist can see has also gone down.
Brian also stressed how reduced access to NHS dentistry would hit the most deprived communities the hardest, with growing waits for appointments and patients going more than two years without even being able to get a check-up.
Brian and the Scottish Conservatives had argued for a new long-term funding deal for dentists to ensure the public could retain access to NHS dental services and free check-ups but their motion was rejected by the SNP Government.
Brian Whittle MSP said:
“Ask any dentist doing NHS work in Scotland and they’ll tell you just how serious the situation is. This isn’t a question of dentists not wanting to do NHS work, it’s that they can’t afford to do it while losing money on every patient who walks through the door.
The pandemic has left a huge number of people who haven’t had a check-up for years and countless more waiting for other routine NHS dental treatments.
Now the SNP seem intent on making a bad situation worse for dentists and patients by withdrawing support funding without any clear idea of what to replace it with.
There’s a real prospect of many dentists walking away from NHS work if the Scottish Government don’t get serious about this issue.
Dentists deserve a long-term funding deal that makes providing NHS services affordable, but until the SNP recognise how important that is, they must keep the emergency funding in place after April 1st. If they don’t they’ll be the biggest April fools around.”
