‘More must be done’ to aid dental care in Lincolnshire, says Government minister

Dental care in Lincolnshire has been ‘challenging’ but ‘more must be done’, a Government minister has said.

Stephen Kinnock, the Minister of State for Care, said his party are now planning to ‘rebuild dentistry’ in the county.

“We recognise that access to NHS dental care in Lincolnshire has been challenging over recent years,” he said.

“The Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) has taken a number of steps to help improve access in this area, but we know more must be done.

“The steps that the Lincolnshire ICB has recently taken to improve access includes uplifting the minimum Unit of Dental Activity rate to £28 across the region, to help recruit and retain staff, and implementing the New Patient Premium.”

Dentistry as long proved a sore point in the county with a report earlier this year revealing only 25% of people in Lincolnshire could access an NHS dentist in the second half of 2023.

Dentists have even been offered cash incentives to see more patients while Yellowbellies without NHS dentists have been paying up to as much as nine times more for treatment, Local Democracy research uncovered.

Mr Kinnock made his comments following a written question from South Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes, who asked what steps the Government were taking to increase access to NHS dental services in his constituency and the county as a whole.

“The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and to recruit new dentists to areas that need them most,” Mr Kinnock added.

“To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and retention of NHS dentists.”