Plymouth student drove 100 miles in pain to have a tooth removed
Jodie Tripp, 19, was unable to access urgent dental care in Plymouth
A Plymouth student has told how she had to drive 100 miles for dental treatment in severe pain and ended up having a tooth removed.
Jodie Tripp, 19, was referred for urgent dental care after calling 111 when her pain got worse over a weekend.
She says she emailed the dental access centre in Plymouth and called more than 100 times in one morning but failed to get through.
The student later received a telephone assessment but says she did not get a promised follow-up call.
In the end her mother arranged for her to see a dentist in her home town of Dorchester, so she drove home and ended up having the tooth removed.
Jodie, a first-year student at the University of Plymouth, said the pain was so bad it disrupted her sleep.
She said she was referred to the Dental Access Centre at the Seven Trees clinic in Plymouth by the 111 service on a Sunday at the end of February after her pain got worse over a weekend.
The student said: “I emailed them on the Sunday and called the service as soon as it opened on Monday, my phone shows a list of 104 calls, but they were all cancelled, which means they were not connected.
“I borrowed a friend’s phone to see if that would connect, but that was not answered either.
“I did receive a call later on the Monday morning, asking me about the problem.
“I explained the situation, and I was advised I would get another call later on Monday or the next morning, but nobody called.
“I was in severe pain and could barely sleep. I was stuck here on my own in Plymouth and did not know what to do.
“I spoke to my mum who managed to arrange an appointment in Dorset, so I drove there in severe pain.
“I was given antibiotics and two days later I had the tooth taken out, and now I’m not in pain any more.”
Jodie’s mum Tessa said: “This was an extremely drawn out experience for a 19-year-old who should not have been left to suffer in this way.
“She took all the right actions to seek help but was not given urgent dental intervention.”
The case is the latest to highlight a shortage of NHS dental care in the city and the pressure on the dental access centre set up during the pandemic to provide urgent care.
Mrs Tripp left a comment about her daughter’s experience on the public feedback forum for the dental access centre.
A response from the dental services manager said it was experiencing a “very high volume of calls” and a new phone system would be installed over the coming weeks which would give callers queue information.
The comment said: “Our NHS Commissioner is aware of the high need of urgent care access for the city and we hope that they will put in place further measures to increase this capacity in the near future.”
A spokesperson for NHS England and NHS Improvement South West said: “We take the time to look into any complaints and although unable to comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality, are liaising with the practice.
“Due to infection prevention and control guidelines, practices are offering a reduced number of appointments due to the cleaning needed between seeing each patient.
“Since the start of the pandemic, we have created urgent dental hubs with additional urgent dental appointments to manage demand and offer procedures that some practices are unable to due to infection prevention control guidelines.
“We have also commissioned additional urgent dental appointments at dental practices across the region.
“Patients are triaged by their dental practice and seen there, and can also get an urgent dental appointment, if clinically appropriate, via NHS 111 who can book appointments at Urgent Dental Hubs.
“We are continuing to work with practices to support them to carry out services in a way that is safe and effective for patients and staff, recognising there is a requirement for enhanced safety standards, including personal protective equipment and infection prevention control procedures which inevitably impact on capacity.”
The spokesperson added, in relation to future provision: “Last year we started a dental reform programme to improve oral health and access to dental services.
“As part of this work an oral health needs assessment was completed to help understand the needs of the local population.
“Feedback from this and other engagement work, together with feedback from clinicians and patients, will be used to inform dental services in the region that fit the needs of the local population.”
A spokesperson for the Plymouth Dental Access Centre, run by Livewell Southwest, declined to offer further comment.
Urgent dental hubs were set up by NHS England and NHS Improvement South West, which commissions NHS dental care, in April to provide face-to-face urgent treatment safely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
City councillors have been told that the waiting list for NHS dental treatment in Plymouth has grown from 14,000 to 16,000. They expressed concern about a delay in responding to what has been described as a dental crisis in the city.
A council report in December 2019 found thousands of adults and children were unable to access NHS care, with people in the most deprived areas worst affected.
It found that children in Plymouth were four times more likely than anywhere else in the region to have teeth removed under general anaesthetic, and a shortage of dentists meant that around a fifth of planned NHS work was not carried out.
Ian Biggs, NHS England’s South West director of primary care and public health commissioning, said it was working on a dental reform programme for the region and plans would be drawn up over the summer, with a business case due to be produced in September.
Anyone with an urgent dental problem is advised to call the NHS 111 service.