Andrew Turner, the Island’s MP, has criticized the Government’s dental policy which has reduced access to NHS dentists on the Isle of Wight.

Mr Turner said:
“On the Island, NHS statistics tell us 37,000 Band One dental procedures have been performed, so far this year. What we are not told is how many people have been to an NHS dentist. Access to NHS dentists on the Island has been made much more difficult because of this bungled policy on dental treatment.”

Mr Turner’s comments come in the wake of a report by the Government’s own independent reviewer, Professor Jimmy Steele of Newcastle University, which highlighted a string of national problems with NHS dentistry following reforms in 2006. The changes included a new contract for NHS dentists which encouraged them to undertake large numbers of small dental procedures, in preference to preventative measures. The Government also changed the way in which NHS dentist data was presented, making comparisons with previous years meaningless. The report found that over one million fewer patients visited an NHS dentist in the two years following the Government’s changes.

Mr Turner said:
“Last month, I raised the question of how NHS dentist figures were presented to the public. Instead of saying how many people were registered with an NHS dentist, the Government talk about the number of dental procedures undertaken. That doesn’t say how many patients actually can get access to NHS dental treatment. It is clear that the Government is trying to gloss over the fact that access to NHS dentists has plummeted, on the Island and nationally, since they abolished the system of registration. The independent report recommends that registration is re-introduced. I support that of course and I am glad that the Secretary of State for Health has accepted the recommendation – but it should clearly never have been changed in the first place.”