Hazel Grove
Liberal Democrats
A patient at the dentists

NHS dentists

Over 3,000 dentists in England have stopped offering NHS care in England over the last three years, and the number of qualified dentists from the EU coming to the UK has halved, worsening the crisis.

Everyone should be able to access an NHS dentist if they need one. Instead, people across our area are faced with a stark choice between expensive private care and no care at all. This has to change.

We believe urgent reform of the NHS contract is required to ensure that the dentists that we already have deliver NHS services. 

Have you had problems getting an NHS dentist?

In summer 2023, the last dentist supplying NHS services in Romiley withdrew them. Many other dentists across the whole of the constituency have already withdrawn from supplying NHS services. Let us know if you have had a problem getting an NHS dentist.

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Our national plan for NHS dentists

Our policy to fix NHS dental services is to reform the NHS dental services contract and to increase funding to pay for it.

The new NHS contract should:

  • Encourage and incentivise dentists to take on NHS patients,
  • Meet patient need and demand rather than arbitrary targets,
  • Put an end to ‘dental deserts’.

We also propose

  • Increasing the number of dentist training places in the UK and continued recognition of EU trained dentists’ qualifications.
  • Writing into law proper workforce planning for health and social care, including projections for dentists and dental staff.
  • Launching an emergency scheme to ensure children, pregnant women and young mothers have access to their free check ups on time.
  • Supervised tooth brushing training for children in early years settings, such as nurseries.
  • Removing VAT on children’s toothbrushes and children’s toothpaste.

Health and social care news

Council leader Mark Roberts, Lisa Smart MP and Tom Morrison MP present the Stepping Hill petition to Downing Street
Hazel Grove

Corridor care is critical measure of state of the NHS

After meeting with Age UK to hear about their corridor care campaign, local MP Lisa Smart has called again for the Government to address the critical problems which are resulting in hundreds of people waiting in corridors for treatment in Stepping Hill.

28 Jan 2026
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