Lack of dental appointments due to East of England recruitment crisis

Dentists said the lack of a dental school in a region was one of the reason behind unfilled vacancies

A recruitment crisis along with a poor deal in NHS contracts has resulted in a shortage of dental appointments in Suffolk, health leaders said.

It comes after a campaign group said there were issues in the county due to some surgeries stopping NHS care.

East Suffolk Council's scrutiny committee heard some vacancies in the region had been unfilled for two years.

Paul Rolfe, from the Suffolk Local Dental Committee, said there were not enough trained dentists.

He told a meeting on Thursday: "The difficulty with dentistry is you tend to either work where you qualify or where you are from, and there aren't many people from the East of England going to dental school.

"As a result, we are not training enough people in the region who will want to come back."

The committee heard the region has historically relied on European and New Zealand dentists, but this had become more difficult because of Brexit and Covid-19, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

Jason Stokes, from the Norfolk Local Dental Committee, said NHS contracts were "not fit for purpose" and of too short a duration to be attractive for surgeries to bid for.

He explained the contracts did not differentiate between a patient who needed one filling or several, which left uncertainty for practices.

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David Barter, head of commissioning for the East of England at NHS England, said it was working on new contracts to "allow all dental clinical professionals in the dental team, overseen by dentists, to provide good oral care for patients" seven days a week.

East Suffolk's scrutiny committee is to write to the Department of Health and Social Care and the county's health scrutiny committee outlining the district's concerns.