'We're fighting to reverse the privatisation of a key health service'
A petition calling for free NHS dentistry for under 18s has collected hundreds of signatures.
The petition was launched by Plaid Cymru after the Dant y Coed dental practice handed back its NHS contract to Betsi Cadwaladr health board.
Plaid Cymru campaigner Councillor Carrie Harper said:
"Dant y Coed serves 12,000 people and they were wrongly advised by the Labour government that there were alternative NHS dentists available in the Wrexham area. That is not the case because there is a waiting list - up to 4,000 in one dental practice - and therefore the real choice is pay around £500 extra a year per family for private dental care or do without.
"Only a quarter of people in north Wales now have access to an NHS dentist as more and more practices go private. This is a privatisation of a key health service and we're determined to reverse that.
"We're starting with a call for under 18s to be given free NHS dentistry. This is the starting point in what is going to be a long battle. For some reason the health board isn't keen to allow dentists to do this, although the dentists in Dant y Coed would like to offer that service."
Cllr Harper said the response to the petition had been remarkable: "As well as the online petition, we've been going door-to-door in Coedpoeth to make sure that everyone has the chance to sign. People are angry at the decline in their health service, they're also worried for the future and how they will manage to pay this extra in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. Labour's new NHS dental contracts may have been well intentioned but if they're being rejected by dentists, then there's a problem that they must address. We'll continue to campaign to reverse this steady privatisation of a key health service and the petition will be handed to the health board in the New Year.
"Anyone wanting to sign the online petition can go here or pop into Dant y Coed dental practice to sign the paper copy."
No comments:
Post a Comment