Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 20 September 2022.
First Minister, it's vital that high-quality dental care is available to people when they need it, and yet I continue to receive correspondence from frustrated and indeed angry constituents who are living with discomfort and pain because they've not been able to access a local NHS dentist. In one case, a constituent was advised to buy a self filling kit in order to provide some temporary solution whilst waiting for an appointment. I'm sure you will find that totally unacceptable. I appreciate that we've experienced a COVID pandemic, but this is a long-standing issue that was prevalent well before the COVID pandemic. So, can you tell us what the Welsh Government is doing to ensure that people can have access, or indeed register, with an NHS dentist? Can you also tell us what intermediate support is being offered to patients who are waiting for long periods of time for dental services and treatment?