Labour's Child Health Action Plan will tackle the crisis in
children's dentistry, Labour Leader will say today [TUESDAY], on a
visit with Shadow Health Secretary in the North East of England.
This comes as Labour pledges an extra 100,000 urgent and
emergency dental appointments for children and to introduce
supervised toothbrushing for 3-to-5 year olds, to tackle the
appalling crisis in children's dentistry.
New figures revealed that the crisis in NHS dentistry under the
Conservatives led to 540,000 fewer children seeing a dentist last
year than in 2018. On current trends, there will be 5 million
fewer dentistry appointments over the next five years if the
Conservatives win another term.
One in six children aged 11 have decaying teeth, with 11,000
11-year-olds reporting they are ashamed to speak because of
problems with their oral health.
There are huge inequalities in the state of children's teeth. A
child growing up in Wolverhampton is 5 times more likely to have
decaying teeth than a child in Kensington.
On top of plans for extra urgent dental appointments, Labour's
NHS waiting lists plan will provide extra hospital appointments,
scans, and operations for children every year, to beat the Tory
backlog.
There are currently 364,000 children on NHS waiting lists for
paediatric care, around 150,000 of whom have been waiting more
than 18 weeks. Patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks for
treatment, but the NHS has missed this target every month since
February 2016.
Labour has pledged to clear the backlog of patients waiting more
than 18 weeks for treatment within five years, if it forms the
next government.
Labour's plan to beat the backlog includes delivering an extra
100,000 NHS appointments for children at evenings and weekends a
year, and doubling the number of NHS scanners with new,
AI-enabled scanners. The plan is fully costed and fully funded,
paid for by clamping down on tax dodgers and non-doms.
Labour's dental rescue plan will provide:
- 100,000 extra urgent and emergency dental appointments a year
for children
- Golden hellos to recruit dentists to underserved areas
- Supervised toothbrushing for 3-to-5 year olds for areas most
in need
- Reforming the dental contract so everyone who needs an NHS
dentist will be able to see one.
The plan will cost £109 million a year and will be paid for by
clamping down on tax dodgers and non-doms.
, Shadow Health Secretary, said:
“What a tragic indictment on the state of NHS dentistry under the
Conservatives, that children are ashamed to speak because of the
state of their teeth.
“Labour will provide an extra 100,000 appointments for children a
year and supervised toothbrushing for three-to-five year olds, to
put a smile back on kids' faces.”
Ends
Notes
Information on paediatric waits is published here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2023-24/
Labour's plans to extra evening and weekend appointments is using
the new model of treatment already taking place at a few
hospitals around the country, including Guy's and St Thomas's,
that allows a week's worth of procedures to be done in one day:
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/london-hospital-cuts-waiting-lists-times-health-commission-gvp30j7zd
