THERE is “more work to be done” to fix dental care in North Yorkshire, according to Ryedale’s MP.

Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton, said: “My constituents absolutely deserve access to dental provision, which is why I have been campaigning on this issue for many months now.

“I'm pleased the procurement for new NHS dental practices in Helmsley and Thirsk has since been successful, but there is more work to be done. 

“At the start of 2022, the Government provided £50 million funding across England to support the delivery of 350,000 additional dental appointments and has been working with the dental profession to further reduce barriers to patients accessing NHS dentists.

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“I will continue my work on this issue both locally and in Parliament.”

As reported by the Gazette & Herald earlier this week, the chairman of North Yorkshire County Council’s scrutiny of health committee, Cllr Andrew Lee, warned that “radical reform” is needed to address inequalities in access to dental treatment across the county, and to help counter the “broken and dysfunctional” service nationally.

NYCC’s scrutiny of health committee has written to MP Steve Brine, who chairs the national committee, in response to a call for evidence in support of a public inquiry into access to dentistry

Cllr Lee, said: “For some years, the issues with being able to access an NHS dentist has been a high priority on the agenda for the scrutiny of health committee. Feedback consistently indicates it being extremely problematic to find, access and retain an NHS dentist.

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“The problem does not lie with recruiting dentists, the problem lies with a broken and dysfunctional dental contract with severe underfunding.

“Dentists themselves cannot rectify this and it is creating by default a two-tier system whereby those that can afford to go private do so and others struggle to access any kind of care.”