Luke Pollard says NHS dentistry Plymouth will face ‘extinction’ if Ministers don’t take serious action to address the crisis.
Speaking in a recent parliamentary debate on the shortage of NHS dentists in the South West, Luke warned that NHS Dentistry in the city had become an ‘endangered species’.
Currently, the NHS dental waiting list in Plymouth is over seven years long with an estimated 22,000 people on the waiting list; around 10% of the city’s population.
In the debate, the Plymouth MP called on the Government to introduce an emergency rescue plan for dentistry, arguing that Ministers need to reform the NHS Dental contract.
Luke also argued that Ministers should expand the number of dental students and dental therapists in training and create an extra 12 places at the Peninsular Dental School in Plymouth as a first step for the coming academic year.
Luke was the only Plymouth MP in attendance in the Westminster Hall debate on NHS dentistry, which was called by West Dorset’s Conservative MP, Chris Loder.
Luke Pollard, Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: “Ministers have broken NHS dentistry over the past 13 years and if they don’t do something serious soon, then we are not far away from the extinction of NHS dentistry in Plymouth.
“The last Labour Government created a new dental school in Plymouth and that’s now the best dental school in England but NHS dentistry is on its knees across the South West. The Government must introduce an emergency rescue plan for NHS dentistry that delivers on the basic and vital services that people rightly expect of our health service.”