Lib Dem's plea after data reveals Harrogate has longest waiting lists in England for specialist dental care for children

The data obtained nationally by the Liberal Democrats from the NHS Business Services Authority – and shared by BBC News - revealed that the longest average wait faced by children for general-anaesthetic treatment at a Community Dental Service provider in 2021-22 was Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust at 80 weeks.

The figures also revealed that 424 children in Harrogate & District are stuck on NHS waiting lists for specialist dental care, including some with severe tooth decay or other serious dental problems.

That’s nearly a third of the total number of 1,362 for North Yorkshire and York.

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Harrogate & Knaresborough, said: “We need urgent action to give every child access to the dental care they need.

“Earlier this year I met with Daisy Cooper MP, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, and we called for Government Ministers to urgently visit and get to grips with the dental crisis."

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust told the Harrogate Advertiser it recognised there was a significant waiting list for children requiring the Community Dental Service in North Yorkshire and York.

But, it added, it was actively taking steps to help improve the situation.

“As a Trust, we recognise there are a significant number of under-16s requiring decay related teeth extractions under general anaesthetic in the region,” said a spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust .

“We are doing our utmost to undertake this activity as quickly as possible following diagnosis.

"Whilst we meet the national targets for completing this activity, we are actively working with NHS Commissioners to further reduce waiting times.

“We prioritise treating children with the most urgent need, including those suffering from dental pain that hasn’t been improved by antibiotics, and aim to treat these children within a month."

Nationally, Liberal Democrats are calling for the £400 million of last year’s unspent NHS dental services funding to be immediately deployed to bring waiting times for community dental services down.

Community Dental Services provide treatments to a range of patients that need specialised care because they have specific needs.

The figures were released by the NHS following a Freedom of Information request by the Lib Dems.

But a Department of Health and Social Care official said it was encouraging dentists to provide more NHS treatments.

A spokesperson said: "We are working to improve access to NHS dental care - investing more than £3 billion a year into dentistry and the number of children seen by NHS dentists rose by 43.6% last year.”

The figures showed that Yorkshire and the Humber has the highest rate of decay-related extractions for under-19s in England at 378 per 100,000.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said it was working hard to prevent the need for extractions among young people.

A spokesperson said: “Our Oral Health Team is committed to improving children’s oral health through education programmes which help raise awareness and reduce the number of preventable oral conditions.

"Our supervised tooth brushing programme takes place daily in schools and nurseries to reduce the prevalence of tooth decay.”