Following a new report, Shropshire Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board expects to hear that dental services have not yet been restored to pre-pandemic levels.
The report states that rural areas are particularly feeling the strain as “many dentists no longer want to commute”. It also explained that many professionals are now working part-time or switching to private.
In March 2020, “across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, 276,000 unique patients accessed NHS dental services.” Between 2021-2022 it has been dropping every month. In February 2022, the figure reached “a low of 205,000”. Reports suggest that the number in February 2023 had risen slightly to 240,000.
The report states, “During the Covid-19 pandemic, dentists faced many challenges and between 25 March and June 8, 2020, all routine dentistry was suspended as all dental practices were forced to close.
“NHS England quickly established a strategic network of Urgent Dental Centres which were able to provide urgent dental treatment for the local population.”
Commenting on the current state of the service, the report says, “Post pandemic, it is evident that many dentists that commuted considerable distances to work in Shropshire have secured positions closer to their homes, and they have consequently left local practices. The Regional Golden Hello Scheme was established with some success to mitigate this. There are plans to further develop the Golden Hello Scheme during 2023/24.”
The Golden Hello Scheme provides eligible dentists with a £15,000 payment on commencement of employment. However, they must repay this sum if they leave within the first five years.
The incentive has had some success, “12 practices applied for Golden Hello funding to support their dental recruitment campaigns, and in total, 14 dental vacancies were supported. To date, three new part-time NHS dentists have been recruited”.
To tackle specific challenges to dental services, the council has also launched an Orthodontic Waiting List Scheme, a Community Dental Service Paediatric Support Scheme and the Care to Smile mouthcare programme for care home residents.
Shropshire Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board will meet on April 20, 2023, to discuss the report.