Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves backs UEA dentistry school
"What an indictment it is that you can’t train to be a dentist in Norfolk"
Proposals for a new dentistry school at the University of East Anglia (UEA) to help tackle the region’s dental health crisis have received backing from the shadow chancellor.
Rachel Reeves said a future Labour government would support the project, which is designed to train more people to work locally in the sector.
She made the remarks on a recent visit to the region during which she described local dental care as a “terrible state of affairs”.
The proposal to establish an undergraduate dental school at the UEA has already received the backing of all nine of the county’s serving MPs – eight Conservative and one Labour.
The university is keen to open such a facility and has been lobbying the government for funding.
Supporters hope that if more dentists were trained locally, they would be more likely to stay in the area to work and end the region’s status as one of the UK’s worst ‘dental deserts’.
The Norfolk and Waveney area has the largest ratio of NHS dentists for patients, with one for every 2,776 people, and some of the highest rates of dental problems.
Despite the scale of the crisis, a recent analysis showed that a total of £17m – more than a quarter of Norfolk and Waveney’s allocated NHS dental funding – is not being used this year.
Officials say this is partly because there are simply no dentists available to do the work required.
Supporters of the UEA scheme say this furthers their case and that the unspent funding could help get the school off the ground.
"What an indictment it is that you can’t train to be a dentist in Norfolk"
Ms Reeves said: “What an indictment it is that you can’t train to be a dentist in Norfolk. That says a lot about what we’ve come to.
“We back this project at the UEA. It is time for change, and to turn around our failing public services. We’re determined to do this.
“Many people are not able to register at a surgery and many children have never seen an NHS dentist, it’s a terrible state of affairs. I know it is a particularly acute problem here in Norfolk.”
As part of a dental recovery plan revealed last month, the government said it was hoping to increase training places by 40pc by 2032.
Local NHS bosses also say efforts are being made to address appointment shortages in the region.
What does the NHS say?
A spokesman for NHS Norfolk and Waveney said: “We don’t have the level of NHS-provided dental services we need in Norfolk and Waveney and we have been working hard since we took over responsibility for commissioning on April 1 2023 to increase availability – including recruiting 14 new dentists since then.
“We are investing as much of the dental budget as we can to support delivery of new dental services.
“Where provision exists to reinvest dental contract-related surplus back into dental services, such as through contract values being reduced or contract handbacks, we are doing so.
“We have rapidly implemented a number of initiatives to help improve services while we work on our longer-term plans, including an urgent treatment service and a children and young people’s oral health prevention initiative.”
Norfolk's dental crisis
Last year, more than 1,000 people had to attend Norfolk’s A&E departments for dental care because their health issues were so serious.
Meanwhile, Norfolk’s five-year-olds have the highest prevalence of dental decay in the east of England with the King’s Lynn and west Norfolk area among the worst affected in the country.
When a new dentist opened in North Walsham last month, it received more than 3,000 appointment requests by the end of its first day, even though it has yet to say whether it will accept new NHS adult patients.