Half of Hackney kids have not seen an NHS dentist in two years

More than half of all children in Hackney have not seen an NHS dentist in the last two years, new figures show – putting the borough bottom out of all healthcare areas in England.

Only 45.1 per cent of under-18s saw an NHS dentist for a check-up or for other dental work in the two year period to 30 June this year.

Guidance from NICE, the body that issues clinical guidelines for NHS organisations, says children should have their teeth checked at least once a year, and in some cases up to once every three months.

The figures also put the City and Hackney Teaching PCT (now City and Hackney CCG) area significantly below the London average.

Across the capital, 63.1 per cent of children saw an NHS dentist in the past two years, the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre data shows.

For England as a whole, the average was 69.1 per cent.

The figures mean children in the borough could be at greater risk of dental problems, with research carried out in 2010 finding that nearly a quarter of three year-olds in the City and Hackney area had experienced tooth decay.

A spokesperson for NHS England (London), which commissions dental care in the borough said: “We are unable to comment on the data nationally, however we can confirm that children accessing NHS dentistry in Hackney is the lowest of the twelve north-east London boroughs.

“NHS England commissions 28 NHS Dental Practices and one Community Dental Service to provide NHS Dental Services to residents in the London Borough of Hackney.

“There are five NHS Dental practices in Hackney that have been recently commissioned to provide a ‘fluoride varnish scheme’ which is delivered to 50 nursery and primary schools across the Borough.  Although a number of children have been seen through this programme, it is difficult to quantify the data as claims are not submitted.

“Since April 2006, the percentage of children accessing NHS dentistry has increased due to additional capacity and the work to promote good oral health in schools, community and voluntary organisations. NHS England continues to monitor contractual performance to ensure access is maximised by efficient service delivery.”

While children may have received treatment privately, the NHS Choices website – the central site which patients are directed to when looking for health services near them – suggests that the majority of dentists in the borough are accepting new patients, both adult and child.

City and Hackney PCT also ranks in the bottom five for adults seeing NHS dentists, with only 37.3 per cent of the population having had an appointment in the past two years, compared to 47.0 per cent for London as a whole.

Healthwatch Hackney, a local health watchdog set up earlier this year, said there was general confusion about how dental services worked.

Emma Craig, chair of the group, said: “Looking through the comments we have collected at Healthwatch Hackney about local dentist services, there is no clear pattern other than that people are confused about how dentist services work. A typical comment is ‘Do dentists kick you off their list after two years?’

“In 2006 the system was changed, so that people no longer need to register with a dentist. It now works more like an optician – where you use a dentist service for a particular treatment. The comments we have collected indicate that people are not fully aware of this, and many still expect the dentist to work more like a GP where you register and become a patient of a particular surgery.”

The group collects confidential feedback from members of the public on local health and social care services, looking for patterns and raising matters of concern with the bodies in charge of healthcare locally.

Bottom five PCTs, % of children who had been to a dentist in the last two years

CITY AND HACKNEY TEACHING PCT – 45.1%

KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA PCT – 45.3%

TOWER HAMLETS PCT – 53.4%

WEST ESSEX PCT – 54.1%

SOUTHAMPTON CITY PCT – 56.6%

Top five PCTs, % of children who had been to a dentist in the last two years

MEDWAY PCT – 80.9%

MIDDLESBROUGH PCT – 81.0%

HULL TEACHING PCT – 83.4%

BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET PCT – 83.9%

WESTERN CHESHIRE PCT – 87.7%