I read with interest the story of Natalia Negreba on BBC News today.
She's a Ukrainian lady living in the UK who had severe toothache and couldn't find an NHS dentist for treatment. It would have cost her £800 to fix her root canal problem privately so she flew back to the Ukraine for treatment. There she had a root canal and implant procedure costing £150.
This story raises a few issues. Here are some.
Our dental service is so bad people have to risk their lives to get affordable treatments.
Perhaps the arrival of people from overseas, for whatever reason, has resulted in the overloading of the NHS?
Maybe the first to get treatment should be those who have paid into the system?That's how insurance should work?
Ease the number of appointments quota expected of NHS dentists.
Natalie Negreba must join the rest of the UK citizens who have lived here and paid National Insurance for over 35 yrs and can't get an NHS dentist either.
I relay to you my recent experience.
In 'MyDentist' practice three dentists have decided to switch to working mostly privately. They made their decisions, I believe, because the NHS quotas are so demandingly high they are exhausted and penalised if targets are not met. That's why checkups are about 10-15 minutes long. Quantity not quality? But privately they will see fewer patients, charge more and their working environment will be less hectic.
Although my dentist has, i think, retained some NHS patients, I was not one of them so am cast out to the oral wasteland to fend for myself. Well, actually, I am not alone because my wife has been discarded too! Strangely, my son, who has been at the practice fewer years than us, remains in the NHS system because he luckily sees a different practitioner. We are unable to switch to his dentist because they are already full.
Incredibly, I (we) have to register our application to join the NHS national waiting list. There isn't a local list. How ridiculous!? Bigger is not always, if ever, better. Certainly in this case the strategy is inefficient.
Regardless, do as you're told I thought so I dialled the 0333....... whatever number and waited 30 minutes before falling asleep. Not really, but I did give up and hung up. What now?
I've booked my flight to the Ukraine regardless of the danger and will hopefully soon be on the books of a reasonably priced dentist who is available whenever needed. Exasperated and tempted, but the Ukraine has bigger problems than me, so I'll just sit here and complain.
In the meantime, I've had to sign up for a monthly payment plan to get at least one checkup per year and access to expensive treatment if necessary. It feels a little like blackmail and unfair. Why should others be on the NHS and not me?
I know people who have moved away from Torbay but retained their dentists here for fear of not getting the service in their new location. They travel back here 5 hours for their appointments. Not right, but understandable and closer than the Ukraine.
Are we decaying into a third world country? Let's put our own house in order before we try to solve the problems of the world.
No-one likes our colonial past, it's certainly not our future, so stop trying to be a world power and accept our diminished global influence. The Government needs to serve the electorate in all aspects of homeland well-being before spending our limited resources addressing other political and business issues worldwide.
Twithay?