Dentists: East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire NHS patients face three-year wait

Patients in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire say they are facing up to a three-year wait to see an NHS dentist.

Healthwatch England, the NHS body representing patients, said some people were struggling to get treatment, as dentists close to new NHS patients.

The watchdog said the issue needed "urgent attention".

The government said it was increasing investment in services to improve access.

Kedma Woodmansey, who is originally from Brazil, but now lives in Market Weighton, said she had been unable to register herself and her young son with a local practice.

She said she was having to combine trips home with a visit to the dentist due to a lack of NHS provision.

Mrs Woodmansey said she first tried to register when she moved to the UK in 2017, but was unsuccessful.

"I knew at that point we were going back to Brazil at least once a year to visit the family so would visit my dentist [at the same time]," she said.

However, she said during the pandemic it became more difficult to travel to see her dentist so she tried again to register in the UK.

"They said they couldn't take new registrations," she said.

They did manage to travel to Brazil at Christmas, but the family dentist was on holiday, Mrs Woodmansey said.

"It's got to a point that I need to find a way here in the UK.

"Whether in Hull, or the area we live now, it's just been ridiculous trying to get registered," she added.

Hilary Andre - a retired primary school teacher - moved to Cottingham with her husband from north east England in August 2020.

She said although they had managed to find a doctor "quite easily", they were told they faced a three-year wait to see an NHS dentist.

"It never crossed my mind it was going to be so difficult - once the worst of the lockdown was over we thought we would be able to get a dentist," she said.

"We ended up having to have a private dentist," she added.

Mrs Andre said she was sad they were unable to use an NHS dentist, as they always had, adding that "down the line there is going to be a big implosion of problems", with so many people unable to access treatment.

Issy Bunn, a teacher from North Lincolnshire, said she had found it "nigh on impossible" to find an NHS dentist.

She told BBC Look North she had moved back to the area from London, and had tried unsuccessfully to register with numerous NHS dentists in Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Hull.

"Everyone said there was a 200-plus person waiting list," she said.

"I really don't know what to do - I'm being quite stubborn because I really don't want to pay private - it's such a big difference - particularly when you are registering as a new patient."

She said that, in her experience, it was a bigger issue outside London.

"It's not fair that if I lived in London it would be fine for me to register as an NHS patient, but up here I've got no chance," she said.

The British Dental Association has said there had been inadequate funding for NHS dentistry for the past decade, calling the current contract "dysfunctional", as it provided insufficient reward for treating patients.

The government said it was increasing investment in services to improve access as well as looking to reform the system.

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