‘VITAL’ dental appointments are being made available across Barnsley in a bid to address a growing backlog which has seen one in five people have to go without treatment.
The government announced that the NHS is rolling out 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments across the country, with thousands being opened up to in-need patients in Barnsley.
Previous interventions - such as the ‘new patient premium’ which gave cash incentives to practices - was revealed to have cost £88m but failed to address the crisis in NHS dentistry, ministers said.
Data published last week showed the number of new patients accessing NHS dentists fell by three per cent since the scheme was introduced.
The government has now confirmed it will be scrapping the new patient premium in order to begin the work of rolling out new, easier-to-access appointments.
Penistone and Stocksbridge MP Marie Tidball welcomed the move, which will help an estimated 20,000 local residents.
“One in five patients in South Yorkshire who tried to see an NHS dentist in the last two years were unable to do so, with access increasingly a lottery across the country,” she told the Chronicle.
“Out on the doorstep for the two years leading up to the election, I spoke to so many people who couldn’t access NHS dental appointments.
“In recent years it has become near impossible to get an NHS dental appointment and it is scandalous that the number one reason that five to nine year olds are admitted to hospital is because of tooth decay.
“These urgent appointments are desperately needed - of course it cannot be rebuilt overnight, but this is a vital step forward and I am delighted that this Labour government is taking such an important step not only repairing NHS dentistry but making it fit for the future.”
Barnsley is now the fourth-worst town in the UK for tooth decay, with rates of fillings per 100 people well above the national average.
In 2024, more than 370 hospital admissions were made for Barnsley children’s tooth extractions alone, and approximately 29 per cent of ten and 11 year olds in the area had experienced tooth decay.
Overall, the rate of tooth extractions in Barnsley was 670 per 100,000 children - above the national rate of 360 per 100,000.
Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care, added: “We promised we would end the misery faced by hundreds of thousands of people unable to get urgent dental care.
“We’re starting to deliver on that commitment.
“NHS dentistry has been left broken after years of neglect with patients left in pain without appointments or queuing around the block just to be seen.
“Through our Plan For Change, this government will rebuild dentistry - focusing on prevention, retention of NHS dentists and reforming the NHS contract to make NHS work more appealing to dentists and increase capacity for more patients.
“These extra appointments will be for patients who are likely to be in pain - including those suffering from infections or needing urgent repairs to a bridge - and require urgent treatment.
“NHS commissioners will be working fast to secure these extra appointments this year, with appointments to start coming online from April.
“Patients will be able to access these appointments by contacting their usual dental practice or calling NHS 111 if they do not have a regular dentist or need help out of hours.
“This will take time but this marks an important step towards getting NHS dentistry back on its feet.”
