Cornwall groups pledge action to fix NHS dentist access

Some people in Cornwall have felt so stuck for an NHS dentist that they have resorted to pulling out their own teeth. That was one of the stories put to a summit in July, and now the organisations responsible for the county’s dental services have put their names to a joint plan to try to turn things around.

Following the Cornwall Dentistry Summit in July, a panel from across the NHS, Cornwall Council and local dental providers met afterwards to work through the issues raised and agree who was best placed to act on them.

Four priorities

The roundtable settled on four overarching priorities:

• Improving children’s oral health and reducing inequalities
• Improving public understanding of dental access
• Strengthening the dental workforce
• Seeking greater local flexibility while escalating national barriers to Government

What they’ve agreed to do

Off the back of those priorities, the organisations agreed to:

• Prioritise children’s oral health and prevention
• Develop a coordinated communications strategy
• Advocate collectively for workforce reform and increased training capacity
• Establish a Cornwall dental pilot working group
• Develop a collective approach to procurement, commissioning and workforce barriers

📷Credit: Cornwall Council

“We now have all the right people around the table”

Cornwall Council’s Cabinet Lead for Community Safety & Public Health, Councillor Thalia Marrington, said the organisations involved had all agreed to move forward with the actions and made a commitment to see them through. The group will meet again in six months to hold each other accountable for progress.

Council Leader Leigh Frost said the debate had shown how much the county is constrained by national policy on several of the issues, but that this didn’t stop everyone working together to try to influence change. He said the right people were now around the table with a joint commitment to make a positive difference.

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s Director for Public Health, Eunan O’Neill, said the panel had heard “very worrying stories” of people in Cornwall who felt their only option was to pull out their own teeth, calling it alarming and stressing that people need to know NHS dental services are there for emergencies. He added that the Public Health team will be ramping up its offer to children and young people, making sure more families know how to look after their dental health.

Dr Chris Reid, Chief Medical Officer for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, welcomed the commitment from partners to work together on access. He said NHS dentistry faces significant national challenges, but that the ICB, as the commissioner of local NHS dental services, is determined to keep improving things locally, pointing to investment in extra urgent dental care appointments, a mobile dental unit, and work to recruit more dentists and support practices taking on NHS contracts.

A full summary of the panel’s discussion and the action plan is available on the Let’s Talk Cornwall website. The panel is due to reconvene in six months to check on progress.

📷Credit: Cornwall Council