MP says the NHS dental crisis is a ‘national scandal’

The ‘Save Wakefield’s smiles’ campaign was launched in February 2023 in an effort to highlight the lack of dental care in the area. It followed research from Simon’s office, which showed no practices in the constituency were accepting new NHS patients.

According to the Wakefield Express, 25 per cent of five-year-olds in Wakefield have visible tooth decay.

Simon explained that he had spoken to one resident who had made more than “200 calls to NHS dentists within around 50 miles of Wakefield trying to register”. None of the practices were able to take on new patients.

Speaking to the local news outlet, Simon said, “The crisis in NHS dentistry is a national scandal. Successive Conservative governments have presided over 13 years of underfunding of NHS dentistry.