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Labour condemns ‘unacceptable’ dental care provision for children

MORE children are waiting more than half a year for dental treatment, new research from Labour revealed today.

The party condemned the “completely unacceptable” deterioration in child dental care that has resulted in a 52 per cent rise in the number of patients under 18 having to wait more than six months.

A Freedom of Information request sent to NHS trusts — 33 of which replied — also revealed a 15 per cent increase over three years in the number of children on waiting lists for operations under general anaesthesia to remove rotten teeth.

Last year, children under 18 in England waited on average 85 days to undergo these operations after being referred — an additional 15 days for dental operations compared with 2013.

In the worst performing trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, children waited on average a staggering 253 days for treatment.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the situation is “completely unacceptable.”

He called for an urgent review into the potential issues caused by people resorting to using DIY dentistry kits. He said Labour has heard “horrific stories” of people in “utter desperation” doing so.

“In the fifth richest nation in the world this is a damning indictment of Tory neglect of our health service,” he said.

Mr Ashworth referred to the case of 29-year-old Claire Skipper who told the BBC that she pulled out her own tooth with pliers, because she couldn’t afford to attend an emergency clinic.

She said: “I’d been in absolute agony for weeks. It was excruciating — worse than labour pains. I’d tried to get an NHS dentist but nowhere was taking on new patients so I couldn’t register.”

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