Access to an NHS dentist in County Durham
Download (PDF 449.61 KB)Summary of report content
This report has been written in response to many people contacting Healthwatch County Durham about the difficulties they were experiencing accessing an NHS dentist appointment
Out of a possible 54 dental practices researchers spoke to 42 and asked a set of 7 questions. The questions were based on NHS appointment availability, availability of emergency treatment and accessibility.
The answers have given a clear picture that Country Durham has a similar situation to other counties in England. It shows that most Dental Practices are full and therefore cannot treat new patients. The exception to this in some cases, was children. From the practices that responded 35 could not take any new registered NHS patients, but 3 would register children only. A further 4 answered yes without clarification on whether it was adult or children’s registrations. However, emergency dental care for unregistered NHS patients was available in all practices.
The report contains 6 recommendations.