7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on dental services in Mid and West Wales? OAQ51902

Thank you. Access to NHS dental care has improved significantly in recent years, although difficulties do remain in some areas. Health boards have budgets and responsibility for the provision of dental services and are working to address gaps in service provision through their operational plans.

Well, Cabinet Secretary, you say that things have improved over the past few years, but certainly over the past year, from what I have seen from the constituents approaching me, there has been a decline, and that decline is getting worse. So, there is no NHS dentist now in Aberystwyth. There is no chance for new patients to register with a dentist in the largest town in mid Wales. There is a waiting list of three years for orthodontic services in Hywel Dda. I have raised this over the past two years. There has been no improvement in this area. I have a patient who is a constituent of mine in the Betsi Cadwaladr area who is still waiting for crucial implants because the dental consultant who was brought in temporarily to Betsi Cadwaladr has now returned to Birmingham without having dealt with a patient who has been waiting over a year.

The dental situation is deteriorating. What specific steps are you going to take, particularly in Betsi Cadwaladr, which you're directly responsible for, but also in Hywel Dda, to ensure that these services not only cease to decline but start to improve?

Over the last decade, we've actually seen 45,000 more NHS patients receiving NHS dental care in Hywel Dda. Our challenge is our ability to keep up with the pace of demand, and I do recognise there are real challenges, particularly around orthodontics, about which I know you've written to me on several occasions. I recognise that some people are waiting longer than they should, but we also need to examine what's actually taking place within the waiting lists, and when people are being referred, whether the appropriate referral is being made at the time. That's part of the need to look at the service.

But, positively, I have spoken to both health boards about their plans, because in the last year both health boards underspent on their ring-fenced dental budgets. So, there is a challenge about making sure they spend the resources they have for dental services. I expect to see improved plans for the year ahead and I give you great assurance about the level of detail in the Hywel Dda plan, because I do understand that they are looking at providing greater services. They've got a plan for the next three years. They're starting a tender process—sorry, there's a tender process under way, and that will include new services at 10 locations across the Hywel Dda health board area. I look for a similar level of confidence in the detail of the plan for north Wales, because I fully expect that you and other Members will continue to ask questions if your constituents continue to wait an unacceptable level of time for the service, or find that there isn't an NHS dentist within a reasonable travelling distance.