York MP holds summit on the dental crisis in the city

At the York Dental Summit, called by Rachael Maskell, minister for York Central, local dental providers, trainers, public health practitioners, and health leads gathered to discuss the future of dentistry. The meeting not only reviewed the state of dentistry in York and the urgent need for accurate data about NHS dentistry in the city, but identified what work needed to be undertaken to rebuild an NHS dental service.

While awaiting the government’s NHS Plan, Healthwatch has been monitoring the dental situation in York, while the Health Select Committee (of which Rachael is the vice chair) has undertaken its own inquiry into the state of NHS dentistry nationwide. There is a shortage of good data to understand the number of dentists, the demand and the costs, which nationally and locally needs to be understood.