Portsmouth MP Stephen Morgan slams government's dentistry plans as not going far enough to tackle issue

The government announced that it will invest an extra £200 million into the sector, which will include a £20,000 bonus to dentists who set up a practice in an area that has limited access to NHS care. Alongside this, they will also offer increased pay to dentists who take on new patients and conduct teeth cleaning in schools.

But the measures have been deemed inadequate by the British Dental Association and Stephen Morgan, the Portsmouth South MP for Labour, believes the plan will not reduce the number of dentists leaving the NHS.

He said: “After 14 years in power, the government has at least finally acknowledged the crisis it has created in NHS dentistry. However, this plan does nothing to tackle the exodus of dentists leaving the NHS and to ensure people in Portsmouth are able to get the appointments they need. Only Labour’s plan to provide an extra 700,000 urgent dentist appointments and reform the NHS dental contract will rescue NHS dentistry and give patients the service they deserve.”

Minister for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care, Andrea Leadsom, said in the foreword to the dental plan report: "This recovery plan addresses the urgent need to boost access, and we aim to make sure everyone needing NHS dentistry will be able to access it. Not only that, but we are building capacity for the long term, supporting our excellent dental staff to work at the top of their training, and encouraging more hard-working dentists to those areas of England that are currently under-served."

Stephen Morgan has launched a dental survey to enable constituents to share their ideas and views on dentistry. The survey can be found here.

Meanwhile, Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage welcomed news of the funding adding that she was aware of the frustrations felt by those unable to see an NHS dentist. She said: “I understand the frustration of people in Gosport when they need to see a dentist but who, since the pandemic, have struggled to get an NHS appointment.

 “In Gosport a third of adults and more than half of the children have accessed NHS dentistry in the last year, but there is still unmet need. I am therefore delighted that the Conservative Government has published its NHS Dental Recovery Plan, creating 2.5 million more NHS dental appointments over the next year - exceeding the pledges made by Labour by over a million appointments.”