Today (Monday) saw the arrival of the new mobile dental service on the Isle of Wight.
The mobile dental bus will be on the Island for five days a month, every month for 18 months. From 9.30am-4.30pm four hours are dedicated to pre-arranged appointments for eligible patients, whilst two hours a day is dedicated to 111 emergency appointments.
Who is eligible
Dentaid have been commissioned by the Integrated Care Board to provide the mobile dental service to families experiencing poverty, people at risk of homelessness, children and new and expectant mothers in areas at highest risk of poor dental health.
All Island dentists have accepted the uplift in payments for NHS dental care, so other residents who are still without an NHS dentist on the Island will have to wait until capacity is increased before they can be sign up with an NHS dentist.
Where is it going?
Today it was the turn of Ryde residents to use the mobile dental service.
The rest of the week it will visit Cowes, Newport, Sandown and Freshwater to provide pre-arranged appointments and 111 emergency care.
Targeting areas with health inequalities
News OnTheWight visited the bus today in Ryde and sat down with Simon Cooper, the Director of Dentistry at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, who explained that the introduction of the mobile dental service is aimed at increasing NHS dentistry capacity in partnership with the charity, Dentaid.
This initiative targets areas with health inequalities, providing much-needed dental care and Simon highlighted the acute shortage of NHS dentistry capacity that they inherited about 18 months ago.
Challenges in providing NHS dental care
Our discussion sheds a light on the challenges facing the Island, including a significant number of dentists either closing their services or no longer accepting NHS patients, forcing some residents to travel to the mainland for dental care.
Efforts to increase dental care capacity
Simon explains that the mobile dentist service is particularly aimed at vulnerable populations and acknowledges the limitations in immediately serving all NHS-eligible patients.
However, he suggests that increasing dental care capacity through such initiatives will eventually benefit the wider community by making more efficient use of dental services. He also mentions the scheme to increase payments to NHS dentists in order to attract more professionals to the Island, recognising it as a step towards addressing both funding and workforce challenges in the long term.
Incremental improvements and long-term goals
Addressing the concern for residents unable to access NHS dental care, Simon admits that the current efforts, including the Dentaid service, will not solve the problem overnight.
He indicates a commitment to incremental improvements and long-term solutions to build a better future for dental care on the Isle of Wight.
Listen
You can hear the short conversation with Simon Cooper by clicking on the play button. You can also pause, jump back or forward by clicking on the relevant buttons.
