6. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Dental Reform

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:04 pm on 14 March 2023.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 5:04, 14 March 2023

Thanks very much. I recognise that there are individual circumstances, and there are 20 of those that we have to consider, and that's why they've gone. But, as I say, what happens is that you don't lose the NHS dental appointments there; they are re-tendered, they go to somebody else. Now, what I recognise is that that may mean that people aren’t able to access what used to be in their community and they have to go further afield. And that creates another barrier to access, and I do think that is something that I’m particularly concerned with, and I’m particularly concerned around children—as you’ve mentioned; you’ve got that one case. But what I’m interested in now is to see, look, actually, can we think about creating a new kind of model here. In particular, let’s have a look at children.

So, through this pilot that we’re running in north Wales, a mobile unit goes into the school, sees every child in the school. We don’t necessarily need a dentist; we can use dental therapists to do this work. And I think it’ll be really interesting to see how that works out, and, if that does work out, I think that is a model that I’d like to seriously consider rolling out across the whole of Wales.

I do think—. Listen, it’s really difficult—orthodontic procedures, that’s always a challenge, and I think there are some real challenges around that in terms of the costs and all kinds of things. We all have to consider, I think, in future, where we’re going to be in terms of costs in future, because there are some real challenges ahead of us. There are massive restrictions on the budget coming down the line, and we need to consider very carefully what our priorities are going to be in future.