A LOCAL campaigner has said that the lack of NHS dentistry in Carlisle is ‘privatisation by stealth’.

Former Labour city councillor Elsie Martlew has launched a scathing criticism of the government who she says have “deliberately and systematically dismantled NHS services, including NHS dentistry.”

The issue was raised by Mrs Martlew after Carlisle MP John Stevenson asked for Carlisle residents' opinions on dental care in the city after the issue had been raised to him by several different constituents.

“There is no dental practice in Carlisle which is currently taking on new NHS patients and it has been like this for some considerable time,” said Mrs Martlew.

“Private treatments are readily available if you can afford it. It is privatisation (of the NHS) by stealth.

“As usual when coming under criticism the problem has been attributed to the Covid pandemic, but this doesn’t wash.”

Figures released last year showed that 133,548 courses of treatment were delivered to adults and children in the former north Cumbria CCG area, which was down 36 per cent from the pre-pandemic figure of 209,427.

Different figures show in the two years to June 2022, 85,390 adults saw their local NHS dentist in north Cumbria – just 33 per cent of the over-18 population.

That represented another fall from 38 per cent in the 24 months to June 2021, which saw dental activity first hampered by the pandemic, and a drop from 45 per cent in the two years to June 2019.

Dentists have attributed closures and service charges with recruitment difficulties and increased costs.

Ms Martlew has called on the government to deal with the lack of dentists, speed up dental contract reform and provide meaningful funding.

“You can’t have NHS dentistry without NHS dentists," she said. "What we need is investment in NHS dentistry, using NHS dentists.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are determined to make sure everybody seeking NHS dental care can receive it when they need it, and we have recently implemented dental reforms to deliver this – with the GP Patient Survey showing over 75 per cent of patients who tried to get a dental appointment in the last two years were successful.

“The number of dentists practising in the NHS increased by over 500 last year and we are continuing work to improve access to dental care – backed by more than £3 billion annually.

“Alongside fairer pay for practices to take on high needs patients, dentists are now required to make it clear which practices are taking on new patients and the services available in addition to supporting the whole dental workforce to work to their full scope of practice which will help improve patient access to dental care.”

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