In Bristol, the opening of a new NHS dental practice saw hundreds of people queuing for hours to secure an appointment, a stark illustration of the crisis in NHS dentistry after 14 years of Tory decline. Shadow Culture Secretary and MP for Bristol West, @ThangamMP, criticized the situation as symptomatic of a national issue. Critics, including Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, have slammed the government's new 'NHS Dental Recovery Plan' as 'too little too late'. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins faced tough questions about the government's dental funding, which has dropped by £500 million since 2014, and the impact of immigration on the crisis. The Labour party is calling for a change in government to address the years of Conservative neglect, as highlighted by the situation in Bristol where broadcaster Mike Graham (@Iromg) likened the queues to Soviet-era lines for food.
Ever wonder why you can't see a GP or get hospital treatment? An NHS dentist opens in Bristol & the queue for an appointment stretches hundreds of yards. They are overwhelmingly immigrants. With bitter irony at the back of the queue are white people. https://t.co/TNg3iTXWQ6
Morning. Govt wouldn’t say it yesterday, but money for NHS dentists in England has fallen £0.5bn since 2014. We’ll explain figures and impact @BBCBreakfast https://t.co/jl9QnoYKul
Spending on NHS dentistry has fallen by more than a third in real terms since 2010 People are now being forced to pull out their own teeth because they can’t access or afford an NHS dentist In other news Rishi Sunak blames the crisis in NHS dentistry on the pandemic. Shameful https://t.co/BWjsmIyFNh
🦷 NHS dentistry crisis exacerbated by immigration, Sunak told https://t.co/1iSc90HKu4
'NHS dentistry has become virtually non-existent in significant parts of the country'. Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, says the Government's 'Dental Recovery Plan' announced today is 'too little too late'. https://t.co/wnvX2D47sI
'NHS dentistry has become virtually non-existent in significant parts of the country'. Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, says the government's 'Dental Recovery Plan' announced today is 'too little too late'. https://t.co/DuF8rz72ch
Rishi Sunak blaming everyone else for the lack of NHS dentists after 14 years of Conservative government. He’ll be blaming the tooth fairy next! #PMQs
14 years in power. The Tories have failed on dentistry and so much else. The only way to turn the page on this and start to rebuild is to vote them out. https://t.co/hTWtJnxxt2
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins twice refuses to say whether she has managed to find an NHS dentist for herself and her family - but admits her constituents have struggled https://t.co/lROnpd3d5i
Bravo @wesstreeting. Why would anyone believe what the Conservatives say now when they pledged to introduce a new contract in their 2010 manifesto? They've had 14 yrs to carry out meaningful reform, what they're actually doing is presiding over the destruction of NHS dentistry. https://t.co/NN1m2yDpN2 https://t.co/fvEdhpukJD
14 years of Conservative failure have left people queuing around the block in Bristol, desperate to see a dentist. Dickensian DIY dentistry in the 21st century. The longer the Conservatives are in power, the longer patients will wait. Their time is up. https://t.co/3zntxi0WMl
‘We clearly need more dentists, how many are we getting a year?’ ‘You don’t know the figure.’ After a few tries, eventually @NickFerrariLBC has to tell Health Secretary Victoria Atkins how many dental school places are available every year. https://t.co/2a90GSM8qJ
The Tories promised dental contract reform in 2010. Now when NHS dentistry is in crisis and with an election around the corner, they promise a few stopgap fixes and to deal with the difficult stuff later. After 14 years of broken promises, why would anyone trust them? https://t.co/f9A3zBgUGm
Only @UKLabour will get a grip of the dentistry crisis we have after 14 years of Conservative Government https://t.co/C9slzVi8Iv
'Has the budget for NHS dropped by £500 million sine 2014?' Health Secretary Victoria Atkins is questioned on #BBCBreakfast about funding for a new plan for dental care in England https://t.co/nQjndu2IS8 https://t.co/EaEUs5FWTA
Tory Govt stood by while NHS dentistry all but disappeared It's woken up to the fact it left millions unable to get an NHS appointment, patients resorting to DIY dentistry & widespread tooth decay #NHSDentalRecoveryPlan is long overdue but unlikely to repair 14 years of damage
We urgently need a Labour Government to fix the NHS dentistry disaster in our country and start to undo years of Tory neglect and mismanagement. https://t.co/kOhohrm3iu
Wes Streeting is doing his interview this morning with @BBCBreakfast live from the Bristol dental practice which has seen vast queues this week. He says there's already people there today trying to secure appointments. More on the govt's policy here https://t.co/06L6lLIr7V https://t.co/FT5FLb1Rm2
“More like a Soviet-era queue for food than a snapshot of modern Britain in 2024.” Mike Graham hits out at “the dreadful state of British dentistry” after hundreds queued for a newly-opened practice in Bristol. @Iromg https://t.co/lmMhi6xLcM
'These long queues today and yesterday are symptomatic of what's happening up and down the country' Shadow Culture Secretary and MP for Bristol West @ThangamMP tells @itvwestcountry 'it's just not good enough' that people are queuing for days to try and get an NHS dentist https://t.co/VpjQ3cucC6
Hundreds of people queued for hours yesterday outside a newly opened dental practice, desperately trying to get an appointment with an NHS dentist. After more than a decade of decline, public services are broken. It's time for change. https://t.co/2nHdr6yDVa
Yesterday, hundreds of people desperate for an NHS dentist appointment queued for hours when a new practice opened in Bristol. In Sheffield, the situation is no better. After 14 years of Tory decline, this is the Britain we live in today. It's time for change. https://t.co/oZXfEe89re
Yesterday, hundreds of people desperate for an NHS dentist appointment queued for hours when a new practice opened in Bristol. After 14 years of Tory decline, this is the Britain we live in today. It's time for change. https://t.co/GQAIRUosCA