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More than half of adults still without NHS dentist



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Published Date: 30 January 2008
THE number of people registered with an NHS dentist in Scotland has increased – but more than half of adults still do not have one, it was revealed yesterday.
By the end of September, 48.6 per cent of adults were registered with an NHS dentist – up from 46.5 per cent in June. Child registrations also rose, from 67.5 per cent to 69.9 per cent.

But dentists said last year's change in the way NHS registr
ations were recorded was likely to account for much of the increase.

Wide regional variations remain, with fewer than 30 per cent of adults in Highland and Grampian having an NHS dentist, compared with 58.2 per cent in Greater Glasgow.

Last month, it emerged that a £300,000 dental surgery which could treat thousands of NHS patients in Aberdeen was sitting empty because dentists could not be found to run it. Local health chiefs blamed the situation on dentists abandoning the NHS for the greater financial benefits of private practice.

The lowest proportion of child registrations was in the Western Isles, at 40.9 per cent, with the highest being 76.9 per cent in Greater Glasgow.

Yesterday, the Scottish Government said the number of dentists working in the NHS had increased by 2.7 per cent between 2006 and 2007, with the figure now 2,920.

During a visit to Chalmers Street Dental Centre in Edinburgh yesterday, Shona Robison, the public health minister, described the figures as "really encouraging". But she went on:

"I know there is still much more to be done and some parts of Scotland still have problems with access to an NHS dentist."

Mary Scanlon, the Scottish Tories' health spokeswoman, said:

"We still have a third of all children and over half of adults not registered with a dentist. It is a disgraceful state of affairs."

Andrew Lamb, the British Dental Association's director for Scotland, said the figures should be treated with caution because of the change in the way registrations are recorded. In the past, patients were deemed to be no longer registered if they did not visit their dentist for 15 months. That has increased to 36 months.

Mr Lamb said yesterday's statistics were the first to reflect the new registration period, and added: "A bigger jump in the number of patients deemed to be registered might have been expected. It is clear that access to NHS dentistry remains a problem for many people in Scotland, and these figures will be a cause of concern to the Scottish Government."

Margaret Watt, of the Scottish Patients Association, said:

"The Scottish Government have to get the message across to people that it is important to look after your dental health as well as your physical health.

"But people will be worried about the costs, so there must be more NHS dentists available."

• To find your nearest NHS dentist, call your local health board or go to at www.nhs24.com.



The full article contains 503 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 29 January 2008 11:00 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: NHS Dentistry
 
1

Charles Linskaill,

.Edinburgh 30/01/2008 00:42:48
All I can say is,
Thank GOD I was Born with Good Teeth!
I look after them, best I can!

What is it now.?? 20++ when our, at the time Government, in all their Wisdom said,

"Sorry Suckers NO More Dental Care on the NHS"

How good was that.?

PDG,,(Pretty Dammed Good) if you want to have the,
.. WORST TEETH IN EUROPE!

This, Government's, (at the time) Stigma still lives with us!

We All and I DO, just 'DO-Not' think we are entitled to any Dental Care,

Apart from..'The Man Next Door', that has his 'Pliers',
...'At the Waiting'.. or was it the..
..'String on the Door-handle.?

"More than half of adults still without NHS dentist"

..'GODS-SAKE'.. Why Do You Even Wonder..???????
2

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 01:03:25
Charlie,
I do wonder - wonder what you've been drinking dear bro. Or, did you have a point?
3

Charles Linskaill,

.Edinburgh 30/01/2008 01:11:28
Nae! Nae Drink this-morning!
(got hospital IVF app 1st thing)
POINT..IS!
'Dental Care in the UK is well,..'F***£D-UP'
It WAS Previous Governments To Blame!
4

Roberta Burns,

30/01/2008 01:13:54
Dental students should be forced to work in the NHS for at least five years after graduating. Why on earth do we fund these courses if it's only the private sector that benefits?

It should apply to all students, no matter what they study. - Teachers, lawyers, et al.
5

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 01:30:47
#4 Roberta,
Er.. law students working fro the NHS? What are you taking? Solicitors firms are private businesses. And where exactly are engineering students to be sent in your vision of forced labour? Universities are not there to mass produce slave labour. And what ae you going to do when they decline to comply with your prison system - put them all in jail. You and Charlie appear to be sharing intoxicants.
6

Roberta Burns,

30/01/2008 01:44:22
4# Solicitors operate as private business, but they are part of the state justice system. Lawyers can provide legal services to society, teachers teach in the public sector. Private business can finance engineers etc.

Five years on an average income would recompense the taxpayer and society for the privilege of their free education.

It's not about slave labour, it's about contributing directly to society where it is needed. It would take a lot of the tax system out of the hands of crooks and put finance where it is needed.
7

Roberta Burns,

30/01/2008 01:53:36
...and what's wrong with producing contracts prior to the courses beginning? No commitment to society, no further education at the society's expense.

8

an interested party,

30/01/2008 07:30:56
'More than half of adults still without NHS dentist'

thats the wrong way round,

NHS dentists don't look after more than half of adults

there fixed it for you
9

GP,

30/01/2008 08:43:17
The system simply does not work. Try the websit then actually try and get an appointment.
This is a national disgrace created by a labour government makes it even worse. Well done Tony another tory policy completed.
10

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 09:27:08
#6,7 Roberta,
Please check-out of the Soviet Union rest home. Most solicitors do not work for, nor form any part of the "state justice system" (do you mean the Criminal Justice system?). They sell houses, write wills, and never ever see the inside of a court, and have no training at all in criminal justice. Why not ask footballers to play for the state scocer system, writers to write for the state writing system, taxi drivers to work for teh state taxi system? Er... because communism is a discredtied, ineffectual system that leads to poverty perhaps. Get students into the free market where they can generate wealth and provide services at prices we can all afford. It is affordability that has given this generation the extraordinary level of choice it enjoys every single day.
Taxing progressively on earnings - and not the reintroduction of National Service might just help. The latter just provides state-funded training for the early years when graduates are being taught how to do tasks that the cleaner might more effectively undertake .
11

Roberta Burns,

30/01/2008 13:46:47
#10 State justice system, criminal justice system - doesn't matter what you call it, it is a control system without which states cannot operate without. I think you should speak to a 'law' student about what solicitors learn about.

Footballers do play for national teams!

I know several 'graduate' cleaners who would kill for some 'state-funded' experience in their area of expertise. My main point was, why, in a free market system, does the cleaner and other ordinary taxpayers continue to pay for the training of individuals (dentists) who refuse to treat them?
12

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 13:56:45
#11 Roberta
I don't need to speak to one - I was one. "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof be still". Sorry, but you know as much about this as I do about cilitbang.
13

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 14:31:44
Please have a look at what lawyers do! Perry Mason they ain't. Why the hell should the tax-payer pay for another 2 years training of these people? And why should the tax payer pay for failed graduates who have such limited ability, capacity, drive, and smarts that they are now working as cleaners to get jobs as traineess brain surgeons? You might want a useless idoit, dope smoking, f-grade graduate, who is only looking for Saturday, to pull your teeth - I'll stick with motivated, skilled, dentists - and I'm prepared to pay for that.



Less than 1,000 (10 areas)
Travel and tourism; aviation; transport road & rail; maritime/shipping/admiralty; international law (non-EC)

1,001–5,000 (29 areas)
Common law; energy and natural resources; civil liberties/human rights; mental health; mediation - civil/commercial; european community law; IT
law; consumer problems; medical negligence; liquor licensing / gambling; insurance; debt and money advice; banking law; taxation; children law; advocacy

5,001–10,000 (4 areas)
Intellectual property; trusts; mergers and acquisitions; corporate finance

10,001–15,000 (7 areas)
Crime - motor, juvenile; employment; landlord and tenant; family; personal injury; wills and probate;
litigation - commercial

15,001–20,000 (4 areas)
Conveyancing residential; business affairs; commercial property; litigation
14

Roberta Burns,

30/01/2008 14:43:55
#13 'I don't need to speak to one - I was one' ??????

All of those that you took the time to look up and list have one single basic starting point - state legislation , ie. law.

Thank you for your wholehearted support of my point
15

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 14:47:26
Roberta,
There is no national football team. There are teams chosen by football associations, which are generally private orgainisations (the FA is a company) outside of China, North Korea and other non-democratic countries. These private corporations select, on a non-accountable basis professional players to represent them, no more no less than any factory can have a football side. They are not state-funded. They do represent the state. The players are not required to play. Contrary to your strange beliefs we are not living in the Soviet Union.
16

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 14:52:45
And God made everything. Perhaps therefore all primarty school kids should spent 2 years in a mosque, paying him back. They too received state education. Or perhaps you think there should be no tax supported education at all?
17

Neanderthal75,

Rocky Mountains USA 30/01/2008 15:22:12
Hello Harder Truth,

Don't bother with dear old Roberta, the poor woman hasn't a clue!
She's just another arrogant Elitist, with zero ties to the Real World!

She's a bona fide Theorist: everything and anything that works on paper WILL of course, work in any real world application (she doesn't understand that term 'real world' but she keeps hearing it from regular folks).

She's Round the Bend my friend, so don't waste the energy-unless you want to just have fun rubbing her very raised nose into the muck, just so that at some point in the future, she might actually make it into consciousness.

No bets on that last though, her posts argue against it happening.

Cheers from the Rockies
18

HarderTruth,

30/01/2008 16:27:14
#17 Neanderthal - thanks - you make a sustantive point
#14 Roberta
For your further education - Scots criminal law does not start with state legislation. There are no statutes against murder, rape, theft etc. We have managed this until today without the "state". The statutes that exist are typically pieces of "administrative" law about driving etc, and are often liable to fines, paid, in many cases, without the involvement of solicitors. Just as we do not live in the Soviet Union, so do we not live in England.

 

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