Shadow health minister Wes Streeting highlights plight of Blackpool dental patients as pregnant women miss out on free care

Pregnant women in Blackpool are being denied free dental treatment because NHS dental practices in the town are not accepting new adult patients, it has been claimed.

Research by Labour using NHS data found of the 12 dental surgeries which have provided a recent update in Blackpool, all 12 are not currently accepting any new adult patients.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting raised the issue during a House of Commons debate on NHS dentistry on Tuesday, January 9, when he told MPs the crisis had been highlighted by Chris Webb, Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Blackpool South.

Mr Streeting said Mr Webb had “reported to me that pregnant mothers have been telling him they can’t get an NHS dentist despite being entitled to free NHS check-ups and treatment.”

Mr Webb told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “As I met a mother on the doorstep in South Shore who couldn’t access NHS dentist care during her pregnancy, my heart sank.

“Every pregnant woman should have the opportunity to receive vital NHS dental services, ensuring the wellbeing of both her and her baby. We must address the issue urgently and ensure that no expectant mother is denied the free dental care she deserves.”

In her reply to Wes Streeting, health secretary Victoria Atkins said NHS dentistry had suffered during the Covid pandemic, but government investment had meant more patients receiving treatment.

She said: “The Government delivered six million more courses of NHS dental treatment in 2022-23 than in the previous year. In the two years to June 2023, the number of adults seeing a dentist increased by 1.7 million compared to the number in the previous year, and 800,000 more children saw a dentist in the year to June 2023.”

Labour is pledging to improve access to NHS dentists if it wins power at the next General Election.

It says it will fund NHS dental practices to provide 700,000 more urgent appointments with the £111m annual cost funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status, which allows people who live and work in Britain to pay their taxes overseas.

A recent meeting of Blackpool Council’s Adult Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee heard measures to improve access to dentistry included making practices more efficient, such as reducing the number of check-ups for patients to one a year, instead of every six months, to free up capacity.