James Grundy: Dental patients queueing outside is 'not acceptable'

As previously reported by the Journal, queues are reported to have formed as early as 4am at the Avenue Dental Practice in Leigh town centre.

Like many other NHS practices, the Avenue offers appointments to all NHS patients on a first-come-first-serve basis, but as these appointments are very limited, queues have repeatedly formed and residents often miss out on urgent treatment.

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NHS dentistry has become an issue across the country (Image: PA)
One Avenue patient, who suffers from Chron's Disease, has frequently experienced these queues and had to resort to emergency treatment as her oral health has deteriorated.

Emphasising that she doesn't place the blame for this situation on the individual dentists, the mum-of-one said: "The people working in the NHS are trying their hardest.

"But in this country, people should not be camping outside a dentist at 4am on camp chairs just to get on the NHS patient list, it’s wrong.

"Dental treatment is just as important at the end of the day as other health issues and I’m just in disbelief that this is where we are at.

Queues are reported to have formed as early as 4am at the Avenue (Image: Contributed)
"I wasn’t expecting to be added to waiting lists that are two years long and to be within a chance of being seen, I need to camp outside.

"I also have a child that I have to take to school, so waiting outside for hours isn’t an option for me, it’s a mess."

The issues at the Avenue follow similar reports of lengthy queues and waiting lists at NHS dentist practices across the country, with figures from the British Dental Association (BDA) showing that the unmet need for dentistry stood at over 12 million people last year.

James Grundy said that queues forming outside are not acceptable (Image: James Grundy MP)
Aware of the concerning situation in NHS dentistry, Leigh MP James Grundy explained that some improvements have started to take hold in the borough although he has pushed for further advice to address the worrying trend.

James Grundy, MP for Leigh, said: "Following the pandemic there are still huge pressures on dental services.

"We are facing similar pressures in Greater Manchester to those in other parts of the country.

"Here in Greater Manchester we are working with local dentists to enable practices to take on an increased number of both urgent and routine NHS patients during 2023 / 2024.

"To date thirteen dental practices (including the Avenue Dental Practice) in Wigan have signed up to our Greater Manchester Patient Access Scheme which was launched at the beginning of June 2023.

"This has already resulted in 2769 new patients in Wigan being seen and 2122 appointments for patients who needed urgent dental care.

"We [have] contacted the Avenue Dental Practice to discuss how they are managing the new scheme [and] have also asked the Chair from the Wigan Local Dental Committee to liaise with the practice to provide advice and guidance on what improvements may be needed as it is not acceptable to have patients queuing outside."