A fifth person struggles to get an NHS dentist appointment

One in five people in Hertfordshire have trouble getting an appointment with an NHS dentist, a new study has found.

The British Dental Association has said that for millions of people, access to NHS dental care is “just a nice idea, not a reliable reality”.

During the general election campaign, Labour pledged to provide 700,000 extra urgent dental visits a year, as well as recruiting new dentists in underserved areas.

A survey of NHS GP patients found that 18 per cent of 7,389 respondents from the NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board area had not been successful when they tried to book an appointment with an NHS dentist in the last two years.

7% of them responded that there were no available dates, and 8% were told that the dentist was not accepting new patients.

Louise Ansari, chief executive of Healthwatch England, said more fundamental reforms were needed to enable anyone to register with a local NHS dentist, on the same basis as a GP.

She said: “At the moment, dentists are not required to retain patients, which affects continuity of care, and the payment model for dentists does not incentivise them to offer patients full preventive care.”

Across England, more than a quarter of people did not have access to an NHS dentist, while the British Dental Association puts the figure at around 5.6 million adults.

In areas where a larger percentage of patients were unable to access dental care, higher levels of dissatisfaction with the services offered were also noted.

Of those who visited a dentist in Hertfordshire and West Essex in the last two years, 14 per cent rated their visit as poor or very poor.

Eddie Crouch, chairman of the BDA, said that “many people have simply given up trying”, with the union also estimating that 5.4 million people are putting off trying to book appointments because they do not believe they can get one.

In Hertfordshire and West Essex, 25% of the 6,150 respondents who had not sought dental care in the last two years said they did not expect to be able to get an appointment.

Mr Crouch said: “We still see things like DIY dentistry going back to the Victorian era.

“None of these horrors are inevitable, and a new government can turn the tide.”

He added: “More than a decade of underfunding and failed contracts has brought us to this point. A problem that was created in Westminster can be solved in Westminster.”

The data also showed that 32% of patients who did not try to book an appointment in Hertfordshire and West Essex preferred to go to a private dentist, while 5% found NHS dental care too expensive.

Dr Becks Fisher, director of research at the Nuffield Trust, said the survey results were “deeply worrying” and warned whether “Labour Party money” would be enough to resolve the situation.

“The new government must build on the promising recent talks with dentists to deliver the reform of the contract they promised – a contract that has been failing dentists and patients for almost two decades,” she added.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the lack of access to dental surgeries was “unacceptable”.

They added: “In large parts of the country, NHS dental care is now almost non-existent.

“We will rebuild NHS dentistry, starting with an extra 700,000 emergency dental appointments. We will also reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients.

“Prevention is better than cure, which is why we will also introduce supervised toothbrushing for children aged three to five. These changes are fundamental to our building an NHS that is fit for the future.”