Councillors will be demanding answers on NHS dentistry from local MPs and the NHS after they were dissatisfied with initial responses.
Members of Cumberland Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee asked North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board to comment on a task and finish group report’s recommendations on NHS dental provision in the council area.
According to a council report, the care board is responsible for commissioning most services in Cumberland and, in addition, they also asked the four Conservative MPs in the area, but only three have so far responded.
In his response Neil Hudson, the MP for Penrith and The Border, said he was aware of the issue many constituents were facing with access to NHS dentists and he had signed a letter with other Cumbrian MPs to the then-health secretary highlighting the issue and asked for the Government to act urgently to provide more NHS dental services.
He welcomed the Government’s NHS Dental Recovery Plan which created 2.5million more NHS dental appointments over the next year, and offered to take the committee’s concerns directly with NHS England, DHSC and the care board.
Carlisle MP John Stevenson said that he understood that the British Dental Association and NHS England were currently negotiating the reforming of the contract between the NHS and dentists.
He also welcomed the £200 million of additional funding from the Government which would go to the areas where it was needed most.
Workington MP Mark Jenkinson also welcomed the funding and pointed out that it also included golden hello payments of £20,000 to establish NHS dentists in areas which were currently underserved.
So far Copeland MP Trudy Harrison has not responded. In the response from the integrated care board a total of eight of the committee’s recommendations were answered.
At a meeting at Cumbria House in Carlisle on Thursday, April 18, the responses were included in the update report and work programme item on the agenda and members were invited to comment on them.
Councillor Lucy Patrick (Harraby South, Labour) asked what their next step would be now that they have the responses and added that dentistry was ‘gone’ in the Cumberland area.
Councillor Gillian Troughton (Howgate, Labour) said she was surprised the responses weren’t more co-ordinated and added: “It just seemed to be a bit ‘jam tomorrow’.”
She said the responses from the MPs were what she would have expected and she was also critical of the response from the integrated care board. She added: “It seems like an organisation saying ‘it’s not our fault’. It’s like they don’t care.”
Committee chairwoman Carni McCarron-Holmes (Maryport North, Labour) highlighted recent incidents of dental practices going private, including one in Cockermouth, and Cllr Troughton wondered if they should invite representatives from the integrated care board to face questions at a future meeting.
Councillor Helen Davison (Belah, Green Party) disagreed with the response from the integrated care board and added: “It just wasn’t even answering our questions.”
She said it felt like they being fobbed off and Cllr McCarron-Holmes suggested that they ask the Cumbrian MPs whether or not they would take the issue forward to the Government.
She added: “It will show a commitment to us.” Members agreed with the suggestion.
