2. Will the Minister provide an update on the position of dental services provided through the NHS in Arfon? OQ58352

With the north Wales dental academy being established in autumn 2022, and with 96 per cent of NHS dentistry funding in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board going to practices engaged in contract reform, I expect to see significant improvements in patient access in north Wales in the near future.

I'm very pleased to hear that, because many constituents in Arfon are contacting me about the lack of provision. There's an increasing number who can't register with an NHS dentist, including children, and there is no space with dentists across north Wales. The emergency service is also under pressure, with one patient claiming to have tried to contact the emergency number over 200 times in one day, and others claiming that they've been hanging on the telephone for three hours before being answered. I could go on and on, listing more and more of these problems that are being reported to me. I am pleased that there is some light at the end of the tunnel for these patients now, but can you give us a timeline on the development of the academy in Bangor and when you think we will see substantial change in the situation in my constituency?

Thank you very much. The situation is a very difficult one in terms of dentistry across Wales. Of course, we're still in a situation where COVID has affected services. We were down to 50 per cent until very recently, we're now back up to about 80 per cent, and, of course, a lot of people want to see a dentist after waiting for so long.

In terms of the new academy, I'm very pleased that the new academy will open in Bangor in the autumn of this year, and once it's fully established, we would expect to see access for 12,000 to 15,000 people. That will be open six days a week. So, that will make a significant difference.

But in the short term, the health board has created more access for people who find themselves in an urgent situation, and they have created access for those who find themselves without a dentist in the case of an emergency.

Of course, this isn't new. Before the pandemic, constituents were contacting me about the lack of NHS dentists in Arfon. As one stated in 2019,

'Both my daughter and myself have been without a dentist now for well over a year. Please is there anything you can do to resolve this problem regarding the lack of NHS dentists in Bangor and further afield?'

I wrote to you last August on behalf of a constituent who stated,

'I'm writing to draw your attention to the drastic lack of NHS dentistry in north-west Wales. Over the last few years, I've been a member of four different dental practices, all in or around my home in the city of Bangor. All four have either closed or stopped treating NHS patients.'

In your reply, you stated that

'Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board are well advanced in their plans to establish a new north Wales dental academy in Bangor, which will provide an opportunity for the health board to significantly increase dental provision, improving access to NHS dental services', which you referred to in your initial reply, and that you were making good progress with the recovery of dental services. But half a year on, the leader of the opposition raised with the First Minister the case of a teacher in Bangor, who found it impossible to find a new NHS dentist—

You need to ask your question now, please.

—when his current dentist stopped carrying out NHS treatments and there was a minimum two-year waiting list. People are in pain now. It's great that relief is coming down the road, but what are you doing about it for the people who need it now?

Thanks very much. I'm spending a heck of a lot of time on this, I've got to tell you. We have a new chief dental officer, and I think he's really trying to grasp the situation, and he understands the severity of the situation. It's not a situation that's unique to Wales, it's an issue that is a challenge across the whole of the United Kingdom. We are actually further ahead than they are in England in terms of the new contract and we hope that that will provide 112,000 new opportunities for patient access, and I think that will be significant. In north Wales, in terms of the contract, 96 per cent of the practices have signed up to that new contract. So, it will be a change in the way that dentists approach this issue, but we do hope that that will make a difference. And, of course, we're really focused now also on training up more dental therapists and that's what the Bangor academy is all about.