On July 23, 2024, ministers questioned Wes Streeting about his plans to improve NHS dentistry provisions.
In January 2024, the Labour Party pledged to deliver “700,000 extra urgent dental appointments per year” and recruit dentists to areas most in need. Its plans also included measures to improve children’s oral health, such as toothbrushing programmes, vaping legislation, and healthy eating.
Opening the debate, Wes reflected on the challenges facing NHS dentistry, “Some 13m people in England have unmet need for NHS dentistry, or 28 per cent of the country, and it is disgraceful that rotting teeth are the most common reason for children aged between five and nine being admitted to hospital. During the general election campaign, I pledged to meet the British Dental Association immediately to start conversations on contract reform, and I did exactly that.
“I look forward to working with dentists and others from across the sector to reform the dental contract and rebuild NHS dentistry.”
Lewis Atkinson, minister for Sunderland Central, told the House of Commons his constituents say, “NHS dentistry is broken”. He asked the health secretary what steps he is taking to “to ensure that urgent dental services are available locally”.
Wes told the minister that “urgent action” is needed “alongside contract reform.” The MP for Ilford North reiterated his commitment “to providing 700,000 additional urgent appointments and recruiting dentists to where they are most needed.”
The previous Conservative government revealed its ‘NHS Dental Recovery Plan’ earlier in 2024. On this, Wes said, “We will stick with some aspects of the previous government’s dental recovery plan because they are the right solutions, but there are gimmicks that we will not proceed with.”
The health secretary promised “a serious plan to reform the dental contract” to tackle access issues for many parts of the country.
Wes added that dental reforms are a “matter of urgency”. He explained that his desire to make progress on this issue led to commissioning “a review on the state of the NHS,” which is expected to be revealed in September 2024.