West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds continues to see hundreds of patients with dental problems turning up at A&E

Hundreds of patients with dental problems continue to attend West Suffolk Hospital’s A&E as they ‘have no other option available’ due to the crisis over dentistry access in the county.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed 670 people turned to the emergency department at the Bury St Edmunds hospital up to November this year for help with their dental issues.

This compares to 808 people last year, according to the data from West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

Campaign group Toothless in England, which calls for an NHS dentist for everyone, said the data showed a fraction of the use of A&E nationally by those who have been cut adrift from locally accessible NHS dental services.

Today, it is due to meet Andrea Leadsom, public health minister, to implore her to ‘lead the Government back to a place where patients and dentists can thrive as opposed to dwell in abject pain and misery’.

After a similar FOI request last year, SuffolkNews revealed that in 2021, 344 people sought treatment at West Suffolk Hospital’s A&E to relieve issues with their teeth. The figure had increased over the previous four years.

Andy Yacoub, chief executive of Healthwatch Suffolk, said the critical state of dentistry in Suffolk was a major crisis.

“As a result of the limited options available, people will go to places like accident and emergency departments because they feel desperate and simply have no other option available to help them manage their pain,” he said.

“The struggles people continue to face with accessing NHS dental treatment will unquestionably have an impact on other services at a time of increasing winter pressures.”

One of their biggest fears, said Mr Yacoub, was that it came at a time when many families were struggling with the increased cost of living.

“People are already telling us that they are simply unable to afford the private cost of treatment they are told they need - treatment that should be available to them under NHS provision,” he added.

“They are equally unable to travel long distances in order to access possible NHS care elsewhere. We are concerned that gaps in health inequalities will grow further, unless direct action is taken now.

“That is why our Healthwatch network – both local and regional – is working to help health commissioners and policy makers bring about meaningful change to the ways dental services are planned and delivered.”

Jo Churchill, MP for Bury St Edmunds, said many constituents had contacted her with concerns about access to dentistry services.

After working with Professor Helen Langton, of University of Suffolk, the former Chief Dental Officer Sara Hurley and Ed Garrett, of the ICB, they have been able to develop a new dental facility which will be open by the end of March 2024 and taking urgent dental referrals using the 111 service, she said.

The facility, which aims to attract and train newly qualified dentists, is to be launched at the University of Suffolk's campus in Ipswich.

Mrs Churchill said: “It is important that once embedded the facility allows for other delivery to based locally and it is our ambition that one of the first sites outside of Ipswich to be considered will be in Bury St Edmunds.”

Greg Brown, head of dental contracts and performance at NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board, said high numbers of people were attending A&E for emergency dental treatment all over the country because of the national shortage of NHS dentists.

“In Suffolk and north east Essex, we are working to improve access to NHS dental care, but this cannot happen overnight with the lack of workforce to draw upon,” he said.

“We are working with the University of Suffolk and the University of Essex to train more dental care professionals locally, who can treat people while they are in training, and we are in the process of looking at other options to help reduce demand on our colleagues in A&E.

“Anyone experiencing a dental emergency should visit 111.nhs.uk or call NHS 111 instead of going straight to hospital for treatment.”