Access crisis negatively impacting care home residents

Feedback from providers indicates that since 2019 and the onset of lockdown, the proportion of residents never accessing NHS dental care routinely has grown from six per cent to 25 per cent. Homes stating residents were always or mostly always able to access routine care fell from 67 per cent to 35 per cent.

Dentist leaders stress that the access gap here will far exceed the wider population, given the high needs and complex medical histories of residents, which includes the elderly and vulnerable adults. The BDA has long expressed concern over the postcode lottery of provision, with some patients reported as being unable to communicate their pain, eat or sleep. It has stressed that any solution requires national leadership on commissioning and funding services that must cover mainstream, urgent and domiciliary care.