A chief executive of a charity supporting vulnerable adults is calling for a review of NHS dentistry provisions for care home residents.

Research undertaken by the Care Quality Commission at the beginning of 2023 showed, “the proportion of residents never accessing NHS dental care routinely has grown from six per cent to 25 per cent. Homes stated that residents were always or mostly always able to access routine care fell from 67 per cent to 35 per cent.”

Speaking to the Clacton Gazette, David McGuire, chief executive of Diagrama Foundation, said, “We are experiencing difficulties with access to NHS dentists across all our care homes.

“At our care home in Clacton, most of our fifty residents have to pay for private treatment or travel 18 miles to Colchester, where we are able to access limited NHS treatments.

“In some cases, we need to use community dental care, but waiting times are uncomfortably long, as not enough dentists are able or willing to visit care homes to treat people who may be less mobile, meaning private treatment is the only option.”

Upon the release of the data, Mary Cridge Director of Adult Social Care at CQC said, “Whilst I am pleased to see that many of our recommendations from 2019 have been taken on board, and providers are more aware of how important oral health is to keeping people healthy, we recognise that there is still room for improvement. In particular, it is imperative that more is done to ensure people have access to vital care from dentists and that oral and dental health is included in all care plans.

"We have made further recommendations for both adult social care providers and staff, as well as dental providers so every resident of every care home have their oral health needs met."

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