NHS Dentistry and Primary Health Care. House of Commons debates. Wednesday, 29 June 2005

Paul Rowen (Rochdale, LDem)

I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in the debate and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) for giving us a timely breakdown of the serious crisis in the dental health service. Had I listened to the Minister's speech without knowing about some of the realities in my constituency, I would have thought that everything in the garden was rosy, but unfortunately that is not the case. Over the past eight years, the situation in Rochdale has got worse. Fewer people in Rochdale are now registered with an NHS dentist and there are fewer NHS dentists. Although palliatives have been put in place, the walk-in centre is no longer a walk-in centre because people have a two-day wait before they can be seen there.

The Minister spoke about some of the issues that must be addressed. I agree with the hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) about fluoridation. Yet another debate is going on in the north-west about whether we should have water fluoridation and I have met one of the officers employed by the regional primary care trust who is involved in that. I believe that fluoridation should happen, so it would help if the Government gave clear advice and instructions so that it is not left up to individual areas and authorities to decide whether such a simple and cost-effective way of improving dental health could be implemented.

Rosie Winterton (Minister of State, Department of Health)

Just for clarification, guidance will be issued in the summer on the processes that should be followed when engaging in public consultation.

Paul Rowen (Rochdale, LDem)

I welcome that.

I shall use an example from my constituency to demonstrate the problem with dentist numbers. I have received figures from my primary care trust showing that Rochdale needed 65 registered NHS dentists. We actually have 38, which is why the number of people registered with an NHS dentist has gone down. One of my constituents told me the other week that if people do not regularly attend for check ups, they get dropped off the list, which made my constituent less than happy. We need to change some working practices, such as drill and fill and the requirement for people to attend their dentist every three months if that is not necessary. I welcomed the comments made by the hon. Member for Mole Valley about that matter, of which he has a lot of experience.

There is also a problem with conditions of service and the contracts under which people work. A report appeared recently in the local paper about three young Rochdale-born dentists who wished to establish a new surgery in the town. They could get a grant if they joined an existing practice, but they could not get a grant to open their own surgery. As a result, the three dentists moved 10 miles down the road and now provide a service in Radcliffe in Bury, rather than in Rochdale, which was where they wanted to work.

Many dentists have moved out of the NHS because of the contracts under which they have worked. The Minister will face a big problem when trying to convince them that they will benefit both financially and in terms of their working practice by returning to the NHS. They are currently able to provide services at a cost that they would be unable to offer under the NHS. When she enters into the new contract discussions, she will need fresh thinking about what NHS dentists can offer, otherwise dentists who have got used to private practice and different working conditions will not move back to the NHS. We all want a viable NHS dentistry service, so we want the negotiations brought to fruition in a meaningful way, as the motion makes clear. I look forward to the Minister's statement next week and hope that she will think about what she can do to improve the situation in the north in general, and in Rochdale in particular.