If you have used York NHS dental services, you might be able to help…
When Healthwatch York asked York residents what topics we should look into this year, access to dental services was chosen. The reasons people gave for looking at this area highlighted considerable problems in accessing an NHS dentist in York: “We found it impossible to access an NHS dentist in York and are now registered with a private dentist so we go far less often than we should”
“We have now lived here for over two years and cannot find an NHS dentist anywhere. I am in desperate need of a dentist but don’t have the money to go privately”
We want to hear from you about your experiences of NHS dental services in York. Have you or a family member struggled to get a dentist in York? Have you visited a local dentist in the past two years? If so, we’d love to hear more about your experiences, good and bad.
You can share your experiences via our survey, which is running until 7th October. We want to hear from as many people as possible and all the feedback you give us will be included in our report on access to dental services which will be published later this year. Our survey is anonymous and we will not publish any information to identify you.
You can complete the survey by going to: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YorkDental
Or you can phone Healthwatch York on 01904 621133, or email healthwatch@yorkcvs.org.uk to request a paper copy.
Siân Balsom, Manager of Healthwatch York said: “Since we started in 2013, we have heard repeatedly that access to NHS dentistry is not good enough locally. More recently, York children under the age of 5 are being admitted to hospital to have teeth removed because of dental caries. Our concern is that this could be because of poor access to dentists for families. But without the evidence, we cannot tackle this. We now urge everyone in York to share their experiences so that if this is the case, we can do something about this, and if not we can better understand why this is happening.”
