Council and councillors

To consider the current Forward Plan and identify any relevant items for inclusion in the Adults and Health Scrutiny Committee Annual Work Plan, or to request further information.

The Forward Plan is available on the website at:

https://rutlandcounty.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=133&RD=0

·       Councillor Harvey read out a written statement as follows:

Following on from the decision by ‘My Dentist’ to reduce the NHS list of two of their dentists, we have received correspondence from residents and Councillors regarding the ability to access NHS Dentistry in Rutland.

We were already aware of problems and this had been heard by the LLR Joint Health Scrutiny Committee in November 2021

Healthwatch Rutland are currently asking residents for their experience of accessing Dentistry.  I ask that the survey is shared widely so we can gain the experience of as many residents as possible: Healthwatch Dental Survey

Please find below a detailed response from NHS England, Primary Care Dental Lead, who commission dentistry services in Rutland:

‘At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, NHS Dental Services were suspended in March 2020. Although face-to-face services have resumed, NHS dental practices are working at a much lower capacity, as they are following social distancing and hygiene rules as per the national guidelines set by Public Health England, to ensure the safety of both our clinical colleagues and patients. As a result, patients may experience a delay in accessing routine NHS appointments.

Practices are being asked to see all regular and non-regular patients (historically referred to as registered patients), where they can accommodate. There are limited routine appointments available as this is dependent on the capacity of each practice, following treating any urgent patients. This can mean that even patients who (before the pandemic) would regularly attend a dental practice, are currently only able to be seen in practice if they meet the criteria for safely accessing an urgent face to face appointment. If a patient is deemed not urgent then they may wish to enquire about joining a local practice’s waiting list for routine care.

There is no patient registration process for dental practices, therefore any patient can ring any practice at any time. For assistance with locating an NHS dental provider, patients can visit https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist or can contact the NHS England Customer Contact Centre on 0300 311 22 33. We appreciate that some practices may be listed as not accepting new NHS patients, however, may still be able to help by providing urgent care, self-care advice and signposting to another relevant service if necessary.

If a patient requires urgent general dental care, they are advised to call a local NHS dental practice, where the clinician will then assess if the patient requires an urgent face to face appointment and will endeavour to accommodate by offering the next available urgent slot. If they are unable to offer an appointment suitable to their needs, but the patient requires intervention, the patient could be referred to an Urgent Dental Care (UDC) centre where they will be contacted to arrange a convenient appointment. A COVID-19 assessment for the patient will also be undertaken at this time to ensure that the patient attends the appropriate clinic requiring the relevant level of protection.’

It is worth reiterating the comments regarding registration for dentistry as patients are used to being ‘registered’ at their dentist.  This changed a few years ago and as detailed above, a patient can contact any dentist. For emergency cases, our closest UDC is in Melton Mowbray.

·       It was reported that the responsibility for dentistry services would be moving from the NHS to the ICS.

·       Detailed dentistry data for Rutland was currently not available for analysis by the ICS. 

·       If anybody had any items they would like adding to the work plan for 2022/23 would they please contact Governance (governance@rutland.gov.uk)