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‘NHS dentists’ not offering NHS appointments

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We ask the Competition and Markets Authority to step in and ensure dentists comply with existing rules, as our new research reveals a third of dentists who say they’re accepting new patients actually don’t, and those that do have lengthy waits.

Our undercover researchers called 500 dental surgeries advertising on the Government’s official website, NHS Choices, as accepting new NHS patients to see if they could book an appointment.

We found the information on NHS Choices is often inaccurate as three in ten (31%) practices turned down our researchers because they didn’t have availability. Of those that did offer us an appointment, 29% couldn’t see us within two weeks, with one surgery saying we could book but we’d be facing a wait of eight to nine months.

We also found practices making people jump through unnecessary hoops before booking an appointment, like visiting the surgery to fill out forms. Some were even asked to pay deposits, and in one case we were told this was non-refundable if we missed the appointment, but neither of these practices is permitted under Government legislation.

Long waiting lists for new patients were also an issue, and we saw one practice that had a list 13 pages long and another that predicted a wait of two years. Some practices also suggested our researchers pay privately to see a dentist, despite our fieldworkers specifically asking for an NHS appointment.

We repeated our research near the beginning of the new financial year to see if the information would improve when dentists got their new budgets, but we actually found an even worse picture. Nearly four in ten (37%) surgeries wouldn’t give us an NHS appointment and around a third (36%) couldn’t see us within a fortnight.

This lack of clarity around availability for NHS appointments is part of a wider issue of poor information and communication in dentistry that Which? has exposed. Our ‘Clean Up Dental Costs’ campaign previously found evidence of dentists not being clear about the cost of treatment or what treatment patients are entitled to on the NHS, which could lead to people paying more than they need to.

These are all issues which the Office of Fair Trading identified in its dentistry report in 2012, yet three years on the sector has failed to deliver on the recommendations made. We are calling on the Competition and Markets Authority to step in and ensure the dental sector complies with existing rules and improves the way treatment options, prices, and appointment availability are communicated to patients. 

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said:

“We found it’s frustratingly difficult to get an NHS appointment with a dentist as information about availability doesn’t reflect reality. This is a kick in the teeth for patients and yet more evidence of poor communication from the dental sector.

“We want the Competition and Markets Authority to step in and ensure that dentists put the existing rules into practice so that people can easily find out where they can get NHS dentistry.”

In a separate survey of consumers, we found four in ten (39%) people would use NHS Choices to find a new dentist, highlighting how important it is that the website is kept up to date. It also revealed that 45% of patients who tried to book an appointment with a new NHS dentist in the last year found it difficult and one in five (19%) new patients went without dental treatment because they couldn’t find an NHS dentist.

Which? has some top tips to help you find an NHS dentist:

  1. There’s no need to register with a dentist as you would with a GP, as you’re not bound to a catchment area. Simply find a practice that’s convenient to you – whether near home or work.
  2. Get recommendations from friends or family to help you choose a reputable surgery.
  3. If you can’t find an NHS dentist, contact your local NHS England Area Team, which should be able to tell you about available dentists in your area.
  4. Before you book an appointment, double-check whether you’re booking NHS or privately and how much the treatment will cost.
  5. Be clear about NHS pricing before you see the dentist. Prices should be displayed in the surgery so ask if you don’t see them.

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