To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

The Leader invited Councillor Mary Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care) to give an update on NHS Dentistry. She highlighted the following points:

a)    The problems of access to NHS dentistry in Plymouth were well-known, long-standing, and had been discussed on numerous occasions through Scrutiny meetings and at meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board;

b)    All age groups and populations were at risk of poor oral health, even though it was largely preventable, but oral health problems were concentrated in vulnerable and socially disadvantaged groups;

c)    The lack of free or affordable dental care had huge impacts on people such as;

                    1.        The pain driving people to try and remove their own teeth;

                    2.        Painful teeth leading to poor diets or soft food that often lacked nutritional value;

                    3.        Changes in appearance was stigmatising and often reduced people’s confidence and led to feelings of isolation;

                    4.        If a child was impacted, it could often have a life-long impact;

d)    Over 600 children per year had to have teeth extracted under general anaesthetic in Plymouth – an operation that required medical resources, but was avoidable;

e)    Plymouth City Council had set up a cross-party, multi-agency Dental Task Force to urgently address the issue and they had engaged with NHS Devon, who had recently become the commissioners of NHS dental services, and asked them to take urgent action to address the dental health needs of Plymouth residents, especially for the over 20,000 people on the waiting list;

f)     The NHS had said that 50% of the population should be able to access NHS dentistry, but in Plymouth only 25% could, meaning that there were 68,000 people who should have been able to access NHS dentistry, but could not;

g)    £7-9 million of NHS funding that was set aside for dentistry in 2023/24 would not be spent in Plymouth based on NHS Devon’s plans;

h)    She then reiterated the ask that NHS Devon ICB urgently took action to address the dental health needs of all Plymouth residents, specifically in relation to the 21,729 on the waiting list (May 2023 data), whilst being aware there were tens of thousands more who were not on the waiting list and this could be done by:

                    1.        Ensuring that a significant amount of the annual ‘claw-back’ (of high street NHS dental underspend) was ring-fenced to be spent on NHS dental provision in Plymouth;

                    2.        Encouraging NHS Devon ICB to work with the Council’s Dental Task Force to use the annual ‘claw-back’ to support alternative and innovative solutions to provide more NHS dental capacity in the city through the development of flexible commissioning models.

The Leader added:

i)     The Cabinet had been shocked to learn how much funding had been unspent in Plymouth because they couldn’t find dentists to spend it with;

j)     It did not seem right that the Government wanted the funding back, rather than allowing the NHS to use it to encourage NHS dentistry providers into the city.

Councillor Mary Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care) then added:

k)    The next meeting of the taskforce was 15 September 2023 and she was hopeful for an update;

l)     The dental needs of Plymouth had been assessed in 2019, when there were under 10,000 people on the waiting list, but there had been no movement to improve since then.

Councillor Jemima Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture, Events and Communications) added:

m)  She had been hearing anecdotally from women who had recently given birth, who were entitled to free dentistry post-partum, that they were not able to access NHS dentistry.

The Cabinet agreed to ask NHS Devon ICB to urgently take action to:

                    1.        Ensure that a significant amount of the annual ‘claw-back’ (of high street NHS dental underspend) was ring-fenced to be spent on NHS dental provision in Plymouth;

                    2.        Encourage NHS Devon ICB to work with the Council’s Dental Task Force to use the annual ‘claw-back’ to support alternative and innovative solutions to provide more NHS dental capacity in the city through the development of flexible commissioning models.

(Please note that Councillor Sally Cresswell and Tracey Lee joined the meeting during this item)