'Radical overhaul' needed of dentistry system in Borough of Scarborough
That's the feedback from a survey done by Healthwatch North Yorkshire
The current dentistry system in the Borough of Scarborough needs to be 'radically overhauled'.
That is from Healthwatch North Yorkshire, a charity that represents the views of patients.
Over the last few months it has held a survey and focus groups to find out what people's views were about dentists in the area.
Chief Executive, Ashley Green, said:
"We've heard from members of the public that the number of NHS dental practices had closed down in Scarborough, Eastfield and also in Robin Hood's Bay, so obviously we were very concerned about this and we were getting lots of calls from anxious patients who weren't able to access their local dental service.
"There's basically only 77 NHS dental practices across the whole of North Yorkshire, so a population of over 600,000 which meant there was only one practice per 8,000 people. Out of those dental practices, we found out of those 77 only two were taking on new NHS patients.
"The NHS have established a provisional service in Eastfield. NHS England and Improvement have recognised the feedback the focus groups and survey have said which is around wanting a real local service, it has to have good access, transport, opened on weekends and longer hours.
"Our ability to work with the local councils and to work with an integrated care system I think to prioritise dentistry to ensure that there's an increase. One practice per 8,000 people just isn't enough we need to radically overhaul the current system but increase the amount of provision for local people."
You can read more of their report here.