BBC News research has discovered that six council areas in Scotland have no dental practices that can take on new adult NHS patients within three months. The British Dental Association in Scotland stated that patient access issues are a national problem and many dentists cannot afford to do NHS work. Only one in every four dental practices in Scotland said they could offer NHS appointments to new patients within three months. The Scottish government said it recognised the challenges, particularly in rural areas, but that it continued to provide financial support to support NHS treatment.
Of the 717 dental practices BBC Scotland News contacted in August, 185 offered NHS appointments to adults within three months. While only 26 practices offered appointments within two weeks. At that time, Argyll & Bute, Dumfries & Galloway, Inverclyde, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, and Shetland had no dentists with NHS capacity for new patients, while just one practice in Fife said it was registering NHS patients, with a waiting list of three months.
David McColl, chairman of the Scottish dental practice committee at the BDA, stated that patient access issues were now widespread, with a “two-tier” system developing as many practices focus on private work. He blamed treatment backlogs from the pandemic, recruitment problems, and “inadequate government funding” and called for further reform to make the NHS more attractive for dentists to work. However, the Scottish Government spokesperson indicated that additional financial support had enabled the opening of the new surgery in Moffat, which was able to take on an extra 2,000 NHS patients.
According to Mr McColl, basic dental care in Scotland is becoming “next to impossible” for many people, and Scotland needs “a 21st Century service in which dentists would choose to build a career.” The Scottish Conservatives added that the critical shortage of NHS dentists has been exacerbated by the SNP making Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK, which has actively hampered recruitment and retention of dentists
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