Dental services during Covid-19: Difficulties and delays in accessing dental care in Gloucestershire

Healthwatch Gloucestershire has recently seen a spike in enquiries about accessing urgent NHS dental care between July and September 2020. This report presents our findings on the provision of urgent dental treatments in Gloucestershire, for registered and unregistered people, and the experiences of those trying to register with an NHS dentist.

Healthwatch Gloucestershire found that people were finding it difficult to access urgent dental treatment. Often, communication between patient and practice was lacking. The majority of waiting lists were not open and some practice could not give information about when they were to resume.

Recommendations included that clear information about provision should be given to patients. The public needs to be given clear reasons why access to NHS dentists is limited in this way.