Access to Dentistry

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 8 December 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:08, 8 December 2020

Well, the pickle we're in, as the Member put it, is because of the advice that he and people like him gave to people in Wales that we would leave the European Union and they'd see no disadvantages at all in their lives. And yet what they're finding out is that his advice and the advice of people in his party has led to the position that they are facing in Colwyn Bay today, where a large corporate body, previously able to provide those services, is no longer able to attract the staff that are needed. That's a serious position in north Wales, as Siân Gwenllian explored with me here only two weeks ago. I explained then the actions that the health board is taking—the dental teaching unit that's to be established in Bangor that will attract further staff into the area; the work of the deputy chief dental officer, Professor Paul Brocklehurst, in providing advice directly to the health board. 

I disagree with what Darren Millar said about the future for dentistry. The future is not in relying entirely on more dentists—it is broadening the dental profession, it is making better use of other members of the dental team, and making sure that those high-volume activities that dentists need to be carried out can be carried out by people who are trained to do so, but do not need the very long training and the very scarce expertise that dentists themselves represent.