Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 11 October 2022.
Well, Llywydd, anything that I'm about to say, the Member can be sure, will be dwarfed by the impact of the cuts that we now know are coming our way. So, some sort of sober realism is required, even by Members on the Conservative benches. Now, as a result of the changes to the dental contract, changes that were, of course, opposed by Members on those benches, tens of thousands of new appointments will become available in the NHS dental service in this calendar year. Already, thousands more NHS patients are being taken on in every part of Wales. There was an anticipated growth, I think, of just over 120,000 dental patients as a result of the contract changes. We've exceeded half of that in the first half of the year, and that includes in the Powys Teaching Health Board—the smallest health board of all—where hundreds and hundreds of new appointments have become possible. I think that's a tribute to the work that's gone in alongside the British Dental Association to shape the new contract, but the pressures that we are about to face will be felt in dentistry, as in every other part of the services provided by the Welsh NHS.