New report shows difficulties in accessing NHS dental services

NHS patients are having difficulties in accessing to dentistry services, according to a report from Which?, the consumer watchdog group.

In March 2015, the organisation called 500 dental practices that had been advertised on the official NHS Choices websites as accepting new NHS patients to see if it was possible to book an appointment.

It was shown that in 31 percent of cases, practices were not actually accepting new patients, with half of those called unable to provide an appointment within two weeks. One practice was not able to offer an appointment for eight or nine months, while another had a waiting list that was 13 pages long.

Moreover, 45 percent of patients who tried to book an appointment with a new NHS dentist in the last year found it difficult, while 19 percent of new patients went without dental treatment because they could not find an NHS dentist.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "'We want the Competition and Markets Authority to step in and ensure that dentists put the existing rules into practice so that people can easily find out where they can get NHS dentistry."

The British Dental Association responded to the report by calling for the government to eliminate bureaucracy in order to put this situation right.