Part of 4. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:55 pm on 31 January 2023.
It's 123,000, I beg your pardon. Thank you for the correction. In my conversations with dentists and the British Dental Association, I hear that they cannot actually deliver those appointments for new patients because practices do not have the capacity. Existing patients, they say, are facing further delays because new patients are likely to need significant follow-up work. I'm told that many practices, unable to meet their contracted targets, are having their funding clawed back by health boards and, as a result of the uncertainties, are reducing their commitment to or even walking away from NHS dental work altogether. I wonder if I could ask you, when you say that there are 120,000 new appointments, are these actually new appointments or just the equivalent funding? Will you commit to meeting with the British Dental Association in order to discuss this further? Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.