Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 5 July 2022.
First Minister, there has been a lot of goodwill in NHS dentistry for a really long time. Having talked to dentists in Bridgend, and the British Dental Association, unfortunately, it is the case that, with the new contracts, NHS practices are seeing lots of new patients and need to reach high targets of patients. Practices have to cover the cost of treatment due to the level of care needed and time taken to facilitate. This has meant that, essentially, dentists can be working for free. With the cost-of-living crisis, how many of us can afford to do that on a long-term basis? So, staff are leaving practices, and the knock-on effect is that practices cannot reach their targets of seeing new patients, and therefore, sometimes, they are being financially penalised. You have dentists working incredibly hard through the backlog of COVID patients, with costs going up, and there is a lack of goodwill flexibility available with the contracts, I've been told. I know this is being investigated by the Senedd health committee, and I very much welcome their work on this. First Minister, what action is the Welsh Government taking to support dental services with the impact of coronavirus and the backlog of care that is impacting their workload? Also, is there a way of prioritising dental care for children?