Alarm has been raised as no dental practices in Wokingham are taking on patients who access dental care through the NHS.

In an investigation of dentist services across the UK, the BBC has found that 100 per cent of the 12 dentistry practices in Wokingham are not accepting any new NHS patients.

The investigation was found to be accurate when checking dental service availability for new patients on the NHS website.

Most people in the UK pay for dental care at private practices, but patients can get their dental care subsidised or paid for after an NHS referral.

Now, councillor Clive Jones from the Wokingham Liberal Democrats has demanded that a Health Minister from the Government visit a dentistry practice in Wokingham to see how bad the situation is.

Cllr Jones (Liberal Democrats, Hawkedon) said: “People in our area should know if they are in pain or face a health emergency that the NHS is there for them. Yet these scandalous figures prove NHS dentistry in Wokingham is at breaking point.

“Our NHS dental system is broken because this Government has failed to stump up the cash.

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“People are being forced to spend hundreds if not thousands of pounds on private dental care with some even resorting to their own at-home DIY dentistry.

“The fault for this lies solely with the Conservative Government. They have done next to nothing to tackle this crisis. Shamefully we haven’t heard anything at all from Sunak or Truss on the dental crisis, despite being people living in agony.

“I demand Health Ministers to visit Wokingham and meet with local dentists and patients to hear just how bad things are here.

“It is high time that the NHS dentist contract were reformed, and plans brought forward to recruit more local NHS dentists, so no matter where you live you know you can get the NHS dental care you need.”

For its part, the Department of Health has invested an extra £50 million in an attempt to ‘bust Covid backlogs’ and improve NHS access.

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The figures are stark in areas neighbouring Wokingham as well, as none of the 12 dental practices in Bracknell are taking on new NHS patients either.

In Reading, 91 per cent of the 11 practices contacted by the BBC were not taking on new NHS patients.

Private dental practices are contracted by the NHS for dental services.

NHS England said it had recently made changes to its contract policies that are aimed at supporting practices to improve access, including giving high-performing practices the opportunity to increase their activity and treat more patients.

Discussions on further changes were “still ongoing” according to the BBC investigation.

Cllr Jones is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council and the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Wokingham constituency at the next general election.