Nearly 5 million people called NHS 111 for dental problems in the last five years as millions of patients have nowhere else to turn.
The crisis in NHS dentistry has been laid bare by new data acquired from the Government by Labour, which shows 111 calls made this year for dental problems are at a record high, at over 1.2 million.
Data shows a whopping 3,327 calls a day were made on average for the year 2023/4 compared to 2,024 calls made in 2019/20. These sky-high figures even trump the number of 111 calls made during the pandemic (1.1 million in 2020/1), when patients could not see an NHS dentist.
Over the last five years, just shy of 4.8 million calls were made to 111 about dental problems. Many people who ring 111 call with issues that are classified by the NHS as “urgent”, like severe dental pain.
Portsmouth South’s Stephen Morgan MP has long campaigned for improvements to access to NHS dentistry in the city, working alongside the British Dental Association (BDA) and others in calling out the Government for overseeing the dental desert that Portsmouth has now become, and lobbying in Parliament for action to be taken locally.
The latest figures published today expose the consequences of being unable to access an NHS dental appointment after 14 years of Conservative government. The crisis in NHS dentistry is well-documented, with 8 out of 10 dental practices no longer accepting new NHS patients and 1 in 10 people having been forced to attempt their own dental work.
Stephen Morgan, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, said:
“As people in Portsmouth and across the country are unable to access dental care, their symptoms deteriorate, and they are forced to rely on already stretched emergency services once their condition has significantly worsened.
“These latest figures reveal just how shocking the situation in our city has become, with NHS dentistry in crisis, overseen by 14 years of the Conservatives.
“Labour has a plan to rescue NHS dentistry, and reform it for the long run. We will fund 700,000 extra urgent appointments a year; deliver a targeted recruitment scheme for dentists in left-behind areas; and we will get straight to work on reforming the outdated NHS dental contract. I will continue campaigning to make this happen”.
Earlier this year, the government announced a handful of dentistry measures, yet just 3% of dentists believe the so-called ‘recovery plan’ will solve the NHS patient crisis.
The government has also admitted in response to a parliamentary question from Labour that “no estimates are currently available of the number of urgent and emergency dental appointments that will be delivered through the plan.”
Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, added:
“The sky-rocketing number of 111 calls shows the Tories’ destruction on NHS dentistry is putting the rest of the NHS under greater pressure.
“After 14 years of Tory neglect, patients are desperately queuing around the block to see a dentist, literally pulling their own teeth out, and tooth decay as the number one reason young children are admitted to hospital. It’s time for a change”.
Mr Morgan is spending time on the frontline in our city’s health and social care services to hear first-hand the impact of the crisis in NHS dentistry and the dental desert Portsmouth has become, frequently raising issues in Parliament with ministers including the crisis in recruitment and retention to improve local services.
NHS England is now giving our city extra dental treatments, the equivalent to 15 full-time dentists. The University of Portsmouth’s dental academy has also reopened, following a £5 million upgrade to its facilities, to resume teaching of our city’s future dental workforce.
On Saturday the city MP hosted an event with health commissioners and the BDA for constituents to quiz decision-makers and take concerns back to Westminster.
