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 Many other dentists across the whole of the constituency have already withdrawn from supplying NHS services.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

Lisa Smart MP, Sir Ed Davey MP, Tom Morrison MP and Stockport Council leader Mark Hunter at Stepping Hill Hospital
Hazel Grove

MPs challenge Stepping Hill funding uncertainty

Stockport MPs Tom Morrison and Lisa Smart have challenged the Government to show where capital funding for Stepping Hill Hospital is going, after receiving a letter referencing £11.5 million in funding, but no information on what it is being used for.

6 Feb 2025
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Lisa Smart MP outside Stepping Hill Hospital
Hazel Grove

MPs challenge Government over Stepping Hill exclusion

The failure to include Stepping Hill Hospital on the New Hospitals Programme – despite the looming £130 million repair bill – has been challenged by local MPs Lisa Smart and Tom Morrison in a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

27 Jan 2025
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