Devon MPs Unite to Call for Dental Improvements

Liberal Democrat MPs in Devon have called on the County’s Integrated Care Board to ‘up their game’ in providing NHS dental care, citing holes in the dental contract, issues in recruitment and retention, and problems with accessing care.

Today (May 22nd) in the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat MPs from across Devon joined forces to slam the previous Government in their handling of the county’s NHS dental contract, and called for the Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) to push for improvements in dental care.

According to the most recent NHS Statistics, only 50.8% of children covered by the Devon ICB have seen their dentist in the period 2022-2023 (the last period for which there is data), and only 39.5% of adults have seen their dentist in the last two years up to that date.

Rachel Gilmour, MP for Tiverton and Minehead, whose constituency crosses the Devon-Somerset Border and encompasses the area of lowest provision in the United Kingdom (as per NAO figures from 2024), said:

“In the face of people not being able to access dental care, the Government and local ICBs need to step up to the plate, and I am proud of my party and colleagues for standing up for our constituents together on this issue.

Dental care in the South West of England is simply not good enough, and without wholesale reform to the dental contract, and the way in which NHS dentistry is prioritised, patients will continue to have to fight simply to access much needed dental care.

The Devon ICB must take note of this urgent priority, and I will continue to press forward on this issue with them in the near future.”

Echoing a recent report from the cross-party Public Accounts Committee, Devon’s Lib Dem MPs called on central Government to change the current NHS dental contract, and for the ICB to produce a realistic timetable for when a new dental contract could be put in place, including full consultation with the public, and stakeholders.

Ian Roome, MP for North Devon, said:

“Access to NHS dentistry in Devon has collapsed. Fewer NHS dentists, more patients, and thousands struggling to get seen, with some even turning to DIY dentistry. It’s shocking and it’s avoidable.

That’s why I set up the North Devon Dental Steering Group, bringing together NHS dentists, ICB commissioners, Council leads, and others to tackle this crisis head-on. We’re working on everything from oral health promotion to targeted dentist recruitment, even succeeding in getting a free dentistry course set up at our local college, Petroc.

But there’s only so much we can do without the Government stepping up. If the Government is serious about saving the NHS, it must deliver the urgent reform dentistry needs.”

MPs from across the county joined together to raise issues faced by patients in one of the UK’s largest ‘dental deserts’, where accessing NHS Dental Care is a profound struggle. This has led to the shocking statistic that 1 in 5 people have had to turn to ‘DIY Dentistry’ after failing to get an NHS Appointment, as per a 2023 Liberal Democrat poll.

Richard Foord, MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, said:

“In 2023/24, one in 460 people in the South West had no choice but to go to A&E with a dental problem, nearly twice as many as in London.

A Liberal Democrat dental rescue package would bring dentists back to the NHS from the private sector by fixing the broken NHS dental contract.”

With nearly all NHS dental practices not taking on new NHS patients as well, as of October, the crisis in dental care is still at the forefront of people’s minds. This crisis in dental care has driven hospitalisation rates for dental issues up and up, with tooth decay the most common cause for hospital admission last year amongst 6-10 year olds.

Martin Wrigley, MP for Newton Abbot, said:

“Newton Abbot residents regularly tell me getting an NHS dentist appointment is near impossible in Devon. The lack of dentists is so bad that it is having a real knock on impact to our emergency care and causing other health issues.

The legacy of the previous Conservative Government left our dental system in a mess, especially in our coastal communities where primary healthcare is already stretched and limited.”

This crisis comes as data reveals that 8,500 dentists left the profession in the last four years, with a further 4,079 currently approaching retirement age. In a double whammy, 329 NHS contracts have recently been handed back as practices struggle to balance the books with NHS patients. 

Torbay MP Steve Darling said:

“The dental desert in Torbay is raised time and time again by residents. It is shameful that less than 10% of the £377,000 budget to recruit new dentists to Devon has been spent, securing only 2 out of the possible 22 placements.

This has been Described by Devon ICB themselves as a relative success compared to the national picture, clearly demonstrating that the previous Conservative government’s ‘Golden Hello’ scheme has failed tremendously.

The new government need to urgently deploy a fit for purpose dental contract that will encourage recruitment and invest in our primary care providers in Devon.”

The MPs also pushed for the Government to deliver a comprehensive reform to the dental contract, and rescue package for UK dentistry.

As part of this package, Lib Dem MPs also urged them to reconsider the National Insurance status of NHS providers, including dentists.

Caroline Voaden, MP for South Devon, added:

“The Government carried out no impact assessment on how their changes to National Insurance would hit our dentists, but my constituents in South Devon will certainly have to bear that impact. The Government need to urgently reassess our call for health care providers to be exempted from their painful jobs tax, and commit to turning around this shameful situation in NHS dentistry.”