NHS dentistry 'broken' says Easter Ross MP amid fury over SNP absence from parliamentary debate
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AN Easter Ross MP is claiming NHS dentistry "is broken" and slammed his SNP counterparts for a no-show at a parliamentary debate.
Jamie Stone, who is the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, made his remarks after a debate on NHS dentistry.
His intervention comes in light of the news that NHS dental treatment has seen prices for patients increase at the end of last year.
An adult patient receiving a single surface filling will now pay £12.72, instead of the current £8.80. The cost to the patient of a single tooth extraction appointment has also increased from £14.76 to £28.84. The cost of a basic acrylic denture has increased from £70 to £117.
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Mr Stone said: "The cost of NHS dental treatments has increased, and that's for those who are lucky enough to access NHS dental treatment in the first place. The Highlands has seen its fair share of dental practice closures, which means local people can only access emergency dental care on the NHS.
"Those who want anything routine are having to go private, and even then many patients are having to turn down necessary treatment due to the great costs. This is only compounded further with the costs that come with having to travel vast distances to access the remaining open practices. Residents who live in Caithness can only register with NHS practices down south - Invergordon being the closest at an almost 3 hour, 76 mile journey. And if that wasn't bad enough, they're then faced with a one year waiting list.
"NHS dentistry is no longer at breaking point – it is broken. This SNP Government has failed patients, promising to cut costs but doubling them instead. And not one of their Westminster counterparts bothered to show up at today's debate, despite being more than willing to show up to the previous debate to sing the Scottish Government's praises on a different devolved issue."
During the debate he said: "It is of great interest, is it not, that there is not one member of the governing party in Scotland present here for this debate. I can tell you, Mr Speaker, that dental services in my constituency, in remote Scotland, have gone backwards in a big way and I am shocked that none of them are here to hear this."
Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for health and social care, said: "It is deeply disappointing, Mr Speaker, and let me assure the Honourable Gentleman that, as with the last Labour Government - 13 years that created a rising tide that lifted all ships across the country so we had an NHS with the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history – so too will the next Labour Government deliver that rising tide to benefit people right across the country."
