Police were called to manage hundreds of people who queued outside a newly opened NHS dental practice in Bristol on Monday, desperate for treatment. The St Pauls dental practice, formerly a Bupa facility, reopened after the area had been without a dentist for seven months.
Long queues formed from about 10am, with police arriving before noon to control the line. Officers told those further back they were unlikely to reach the front by the end of the day but did not ask anyone to leave. Maria, 80, a local resident, said she could not get appointments elsewhere due to full books and long waiting lists. She noted a neighbour facing cancer surgery was also in the queue, despite being disabled and unable to stand for long.
The scenes highlight the poor state of NHS dentistry in England. NHS statistics show that between April 2022 and March 2023, hospitals in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare treated 775 patients for dental abscesses and 290 for tooth decay. Labour party analysis found 83% of dental surgeries in England were not accepting new adult NHS patients, and 71.1% were not accepting under-18s.
Preet Kaur Gill, shadow minister for primary care and public health, said 99% of dentists in the south-west were not accepting new adult patients. She called for a Labour plan including 700,000 extra urgent appointments and targeted recruitment. The British Dental Association warned that without fundamental reform, such scenes would be repeated.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said progress was being made, with 23% more NHS dental treatments delivered last year and plans to increase training places by 40%. Further measures to improve access through a dental recovery plan will be announced shortly.
