PATIENTS in distress have been struggling to access dental care in Swindon during the pandemic, a new report shows.
Healthwatch Swindon has published its annual report revealing experiences of health and social care of 1,266 people.
Over the past year, one of the main themes emerging from feedback gathered by the patients' watchdog was the difficulty in accessing NHS dental appointments.
The main issues included problems in booking routine and emergency care appointments, priority being given to private patients, and insufficient information on dental surgery websites.
It accounted for nearly 12 per cent of the feedback they received.
The team has received calls from people unable to find an NHS dentist as they suffered with ongoing pain.