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.
The watchdog Healthwatch Swindon has received several complaints over the problem. It comes as Healthwatch England published a report revealing that NHS patients are facing waits up to two years. One piece of feedback sent to Healthwatch by a Swindon resident says: “I feel like I am banging my head on a brick wall and going round the same roundabout. “I physically cannot take any more pain or the teeth breaking. It’s affecting my whole life and has hit me at a very, very low time.” Healthwatch development officer Jo Osorio said they can only create change by evidencing feedback with examples .