Dental and oral health is incredibly important. The NHS should be providing far more of both. Too many children lack a dentist, which merely stores up a variety of health issues for later in life. It also means lost school days due to toothache, and lost productivity when in employment for the same reason. We look to the NHS to provide the care of our physical health needs, but increasingly it is becoming easier to find hen’s teeth (might as well maintain the theme) than it is an NHS dentist.
I know this from visits to my Advice Surgery, inbox and my Health Survey. I took part in a recent debate in Parliament on the provision of NHS dentistry, and, also in Parliament, met Shive Pabary of the British Dental Association to discuss the inherent problems. They are longstanding but, for once. simple. Under the current NHS dental contract, a dentist is paid for one visit. If the treatment requires several visits, then the dentist receives no more money from the NHS. It is, as I said in the Commons, not rocket science to fix. Simply pay the NHS dentist for the actual visits a patient has to make, rather than just presume it is one and done.
Keir Starmer had promised root and branch reform but failed to deliver. As a result, the situation is worsening, with two thirds of NHS dentists in a recent BDA survey saying they will be reducing the number of NHS appointments they offer. This will make a bad situation worse. It cannot continue.
The negative burden of the current situation, as always, falls heaviest on the shoulders of rural residents where provision is sparser in any event. I will continue my work in this area, and will be looking to meet the new Dentistry Minister. According to the BDA there is a real appetite from dental students to practice within the NHS as it gives them access to the widest range of continuous professional development. We cannot let the status quo continue.
Retirement village management
I was particularly pleased to secure an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons on the issues of the management (or sometimes lack thereof) of retirement villages. Many MPs contributed to the debate, illustrating that it is a problem greater than that experienced just in North Dorset. Because the idea of retirement villages is relatively new there is a lag or gap in the rules that govern and regulate them. Upcoming legislation provides an opportunity to tackle poor administration and improve customer service. My bedrock fear is that many of these companies see their residents as fairly well-heeled cash cows to be milked. They also take advantage of the propensity of older people just to ‘pay up’ in order to avoid being a nuisance.
Still worse, one of my constituents has had a solicitor’s letter threatening a termination of their lease if they have the temerity to continue asking perfectly legitimate questions about management and service charges. I hope the Government will act. If it doesn’t, I shall be tabling amendments to proposed legislation in order to close the loopholes and give people a dignified and safe retirement.
Pro-women
I cannot believe I am actually asking this question, but … is there anyone out there who seriously believes that a man wearing women’s clothing but retaining a fully functioning penis should be allowed to use women’s changing rooms in shops, female prisons, women’s hospital wards or gym changing rooms? The Supreme Court doesn’t think they should. And, as a Rule-of- Law-abiding sort of person, I think the Court is right. This is not about being anti-trans, but rather it is pro-women’s safety and security. Nothing more nor less.
I do not believe there is a single person in North Dorset who thinks it is what one wears that defines one’s gender. A group of people who do not share this view are the Liberal Democrats. Once proud champions of the Rule of Law and the importance of the Supreme Court, they now seek to set both aside as they pander to a tiny minority of people. The issue is not one of equality, as Ed Davey has stated (shame he didn’t have the same instincts for our postmasters and mistresses) but of the need for women to feel safe.
I will do all I can to uphold the ruling of the Court in the face of this Lib Dem lunacy.
Simon Hoare MP for North Dorset
