Norfolk MP says Ukrainians are returning to war-torn home for better dental care than in UK
Norwich South MP Clive Lewis wants the Government to do more to tackle the lack of access to NHS dental care
Ukrainians are returning to their "war-torn" home country for dental care because the service there is better than in the UK, ministers have heard.
Labour MP Clive Lewis told the House of Commons that refugees living in his Norwich South constituency are making the journey to Ukraine because the dental service there is better than in Norwich and the surrounding county of Norfolk.
Mr Lewis is among several MPs pressing the Government to do more to tackle the lack of access to NHS dental care across England.
The Labour backbencher told the Commons: "I was going to ask a question about the shocking statistic of 85,000 people at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, who are on the waiting list there, but so poor was the Secretary of State's response to (Wes Streeting) on the dental deserts across Norfolk and Norwich I would like to tell him a very quick story.
"I have Ukrainian refugees that come to my constituency, who are travelling back to war-torn Ukraine to have their teeth seen to because there is a better dental service in Ukraine than there is in Norfolk and Norwich.
"What does he have to say to that?"
The government's response
Health Secretary Steve Barclay responded: "On dentistry, we have got more dentists now... 6.5% more dentists than when we came to power, there is a quarter more activity this year compared to last year.
"But I understand why he doesn't want to talk about the investment we are making on the electives programme in Norfolk, because it includes two new hospitals going into Norfolk that we are funding through our new hospitals programme.
"It also includes significant funding into diagnostic capacity, with a number of diagnostic centres being opened in Norfolk, which he doesn't want to mention."
By-election
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting had earlier raised the prospect of the forthcoming Mid Bedfordshire by-election, which is being tightly fought by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, as he probed the Government about dental care.
To laughter from the Tory benches, he said: "In Mid Bedfordshire last year, 165 children... I don't know why they are laughing, it is not our party that has let down the people of Mid Bedfordshire, maybe they should listen... 165 children in Mid Bedfordshire had teeth removed due to tooth decay."
He added: "Eight hundred patients were forced into A&E for the same reason, and 100,000 people across the region cannot get access to an NHS dentist.
"So, instead of laughing, maybe the Government might like to adopt Labour's plan to provide 700,000 extra dentistry appointments every year."
Mr Barclay replied it was "striking" that the Labour frontbencher did not want to speak about the party's record on health in Wales, which he claimed Sir Keir Starmer had said would be "the blueprint for what the NHS would be in England".
Mr Streeting also urged the Government to back Labour's policy for supervised tooth brushing in schools in order to eradicate tooth decay.
"Huge backlog"
Elsewhere in the debate, Conservative MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme Aaron Bell welcomed plans by the Government to address NHS dental access over the long term, but added: "These plans will take time.
"In the short term there is a huge backlog of overseas clinicians who are waiting to take the overseas registration exam so they can practise here.
"What steps is the Secretary of State doing to expedite that backlog and let them take their exam?"
Mr Barclay said there are immediate-term "legislative changes" the Government has made which give dental regulator the General Dental Council the "flexibility to improve the running of the way that doctors are registered".