New urgent dental care service for Suffolk and and North East Essex
Thousands of extra appointments are being made available
It's hoped thousands of extra appointments will be made available to people needing urgent dental treatment as a new service is launched.
It's been announced by the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board as part of a national drive to increase access.
Within Suffolk and north east Essex, 17 practices are already delivering the new £1.2 million Urgent Care Dental Service, with another seven soon to join them.
Appointments are available seven days a week, including evenings, in Colchester, Felixstowe, Frinton, Hadleigh, Haverhill, Ipswich, Mildenhall, Newmarket, Stowmarket and Sudbury.
These appointments are for both adults and children who fall into one of two groups:
• Those assessed as requiring dental care within 24 hours or as soon as possible, including those in pain and those who have infections or excessive bleeding from their gums/cheeks
• Those assessed as requiring care within seven days, unless the condition worsens, including those who need fillings, have loose crowns or bridges, or those who have broken a tooth
Peter Wightman, Director for Dental, Pharmacy, Optometry and Vaccination Commissioning at NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB, said:
“The new Urgent Care Dental Service brings additional high-quality, unscheduled dental care closer to home for local people and builds on our Dental Priority Access and Stabilisation Service, which has already delivered 12,452 appointments to people in pain and to those in vulnerable groups since April last year.
“More people who have not been able to access either an NHS or private dental practice can now obtain certain NHS dental treatments within one to seven days. I would like to thank all the dental practices who are delivering the new service.
“We recognise that some gaps in dental provision across Suffolk and north east Essex will not be resolved by this initiative. The ICB is also working on a wider procurement plan to address this, including establishing NHS dental care in underserved areas.”