Raising dentistry during PM's visit to North Devon - Selaine Saxby

It was a privilege to welcome our Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to North Devon District Hospital.

The Prime Minister met with medical staff and patients and was shown around by Chief Medical Officer, Adrian Harris, and Chair of the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Dame Shan Morgan.

The visit came to support the latest funding announcement by the Government to invest £200 million to boost NHS resilience and ensure patients receive the care they need this winter. We all know that winter is the most challenging time for the NHS and this funding will go to help bolster services and early preparedness during one of the busiest periods for all hospitals.

North Devon District Hospital has received significant funding over the last few years and I was proud to accompany the Prime Minister, with the hospital team to see the work that has been completed so far. We visited the new Discharge Lounge, the Coronation Suite, which has made dramatic improvements to patient flow though the hospital. The Discharge Lounge has enabled those who are able to recover from home to be discharged quicker and free up beds for patients.

We also visited the Jubilee Ward which is a dedicated ward for hip and knee surgery, enabling this to progress even when the hospital is very busy during the winter months. It was great to show the progress that has been made and the ongoing work that is being done to rapidly progress the much needed building keyworker housing. The progress on keyworker housing is as a result of the visit to the hospital by Minister for Health and Social Care, Lord Markham, last month, when the Minister announced £1.2 million for the Trust to scope new housing, with spades in the ground within a year.

Whilst the Prime Minister was visiting the hospital, I had the opportunity to raise with him directly the level of concern about the situation surrounding the lack of dentists and orthodontists. I have recently launched a parliamentary petition on dentistry in North Devon and the online petition has reached over 500 signatures. My goal is that I would like everyone in North Devon who has been directly affected by the lack of dentists to sign this petition, to highlight to Government just how urgent the situation is. I will present this petition to parliament in the autumn and ask the Government to assist with emergency dental provision in North Devon as the situation is now in my opinion deemed an emergency.

Thank you to everyone who has already written in with their physical signatures, and to those that have signed the online petition at https://www.change.org/DentistsinNorthDevon.

If you would like to be part of the physical presentation in parliament, the petition is available in council offices across North Devon: at Lynton House in Barnstaple, The Amory Centre in South Molton and the Ilfracombe Centre on Ilfracombe High Street. Alternatively, you can also email my office at selaine.saxby.mp@parliament.uk for a physical copy.

The first letter I wrote as an MP was on dentists which was as a result of my own experience of the difficulties registering with an NHS dentist in North Devon, as well as feedback from a now former dental nurse about the issues surrounding the dental contract, which has now improved.

Speaking to the Prime Minister, he is aware of the challenges of dentistry in rural areas and I know that a lot of work is being done behind the scenes with the workforce plan increasing the number of dentists being trained, but as the Prime Minister himself acknowledged this did not help in the short term which is why I am keen North Devon’s voice is heard at Westminster through my parliamentary petition.

I would like to thank the hospital team for accommodating the Prime Minister and to him for listening to the hospital management as well as meeting some of our fantastic hospital staff.