1. Will the Minister make a statement on NHS dentistry services in South Wales West? OQ58013

Thank you very much. We are working on system reform in dentistry and moving forward collaboratively with the primary care reform programme in 2022, and this includes working in partnership with the dental profession to improve access to, and experience and quality of, dental care. 

Diolch, Weinidog. Swansea bay community health council's new report 'Accessing NHS Dental Care: Getting to the Root of the Problem' paints a damning picture of dental services in the Swansea and Neath Port Talbot areas. It emphasises these issues were present before the pandemic exacerbated them. Patients have had to wait years to see a dentist, many not having been able to get an appointment at all. The report found that 70 per cent of people feel pressure to seek private dental care in order to get an appointment. They can't access NHS dental services, including pregnant women and children. And patients with serious medical issues that require regular check-ups are being denied vital appointments. One patient said, 'My bridge fell out at the beginning of 2020, I'm still without it. It affects my confidence. I can't smile. I can't laugh.' In another case, a man was left to pull his own tooth from his mouth, and we know there are cases reported of this. And I heard similar accounts from hundreds of my constituents in response to a survey I conducted. One patient also told me he'd been automatically de-registered as he hadn't been seen in two years, although he'd been shielding for most of those two years. So, I welcome the Government's recently announced plan to improve dental care, but I'd like to know how the contract reform is going to adequately and urgently address all of the concerns reflected in the report, which are replicated all over Wales, and have been raised by many Members in this Chamber. Is there sufficient funding to increase NHS capacity to end this unjust postcode lottery, and ensure those who cannot afford to pay, or who cannot find an NHS dentist, receive the care they're entitled to?

Diolch yn fawr, Sioned. And you'll be aware that there has been a particular issue in relation to dentistry because of the need for infection control measures to ensure that people remain safe, including patients and the dentists themselves. And that's why we've seen a 50 per cent reduction in the number of people who have been able to access NHS dentistry. We have, of course, put measures in place to try and mitigate this, including substantial investment in helping dentists to allow air flow better in their surgeries. 

I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that, because of the new dental contract that we've introduced, in Swansea bay health board, 88 per cent of practices have opted in to that new system. So, we are hoping to see a transformation now because of the way that those dental units are counted. So, they were counted as dental units before. Now we'll be moving much more into the area of prevention, and part of the contract will also be about asking new people and making sure that they get to see new people in dentistry. 

We have put in an additional recurrent pot of funding—£2 million. As you'll be aware, what we can't do is to conjure up new dentists overnight. And that's why what we're trying to do is to make sure that we train hygienists and therapists, and I can assure you that there are about 20,000 people who are being seen each in week in Wales. 

Good afternoon, Minister. Minister, it is a worrying fact that many dental practices have struggled to return to normal as we emerge from the pandemic. Routine check-ups are not being offered. People are reluctant to bother their dentists for an appointment because they feel that a check-up might not be seen as important enough. And many people cannot access an adequate out-of-hours service for emergency advice and appointments. A check-up is, however, vital to the patient: problems can be identified earlier and a dentist is qualified to advise on the wider questions of oral health. Can the Minister outline what discussions she has had with the British Dental Association about the capacity of our dental services, and what plans does she have to ensure we have the right number of dentists working in Wales? Thank you.

Thanks very much, Altaf, and I would like to assure you that if dental treatment is urgent or the patient is in pain, it is expected that health boards will have provision in place to provide care quickly. And one of the things that I'm doing at the moment is I'm going through the details of the integrated medium term plans for each of the health boards and I'm making sure that every one of them has a proposal and a plan that are adequate to address the issues in relation to dentistry.

You'll be pleased to hear, I'm sure, that we have recently appointed a new chief dental officer. I'm very aware that this is an issue that is exercising a lot of the public in Wales, and I have now requested that we have monthly meetings to make sure that we get some real pace into the system. We did have a period of time where there wasn't a chief dental official in Wales in post, and so I'm really delighted now to see that we have appointed somebody and that that focus, I hope, will be brought to bear on the system.

We are still in a situation, of course, where aerosol-generating equipment could cause infection and so we do have to understand that there are still restrictions in relation to dentistry that may not be quite the same as in other NHS facilities.