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00:00 >>Anthony Magnell (South Devon) (Con) It is a pleasure to be able to speak in this
00:04 debate and to raise the issues that so many people face across the south-west and so many
00:08 people across the south of Devon who are in immense pain. I might start off in response
00:14 to some of the remarks that were made earlier in the debate. It is acceptable to make the
00:18 point that the NHS contract from 2006 does not work and has not worked. It is acceptable
00:23 to say that we tried to make it work and we have hit an enormous roadblock in the form
00:27 of the pandemic that has shorn the system to be wanting. None of that is a controversial
00:32 thing to make. That is not a controversial statement to make the point on. Labour should
00:36 not be outraged when we ask for its plans. Time and time again, it goes in front of the
00:41 cameras and says that it has a plan for this and that and everything that it might possibly
00:45 imagine. Therefore, we should be able to ask it, given that this is its debate. It can
00:50 laugh, as it is doing now, or smile about this thing, but it is a serious and legitimate
00:55 question. If the Government are in waiting, they should come up with a proposal for what
00:59 the short-term solution is for this issue.
01:02 The shadow Minister for Health and Social Care also decided to tell me that he or the
01:06 Labour party had been talking about this issue since 2010. Indeed, he said that in 2010 and
01:12 2015 it was in their manifestos. I can find no record of it in their manifestos. In fact,
01:19 it is hard to see when the shadow Health Secretary even cared about this issue before his appointment,
01:24 but I will leave that for others to make clearer in the course of this debate.
01:29 The Health Secretary has made it perfectly clear about the challenges we face. She has
01:33 made the point very clearly about the fact that there have been some improvements, but
01:38 no one on this side of the House is complacent. We are all aware, because we look and speak
01:43 to our constituents and we look at our email inboxes, of the size of the trouble and the
01:49 problems that are faced. It should be welcome that we are now pushing taxpayer-funded dentists,
01:54 who have been in training, to go and work within the NHS at the end of this. It should
01:59 be welcome that there are 40% more dental training places, and it should be welcome
02:04 that we are looking at ways in which we can bring dentists from abroad, as well as creating
02:08 the training places that work right across the country. I welcome the report and comments
02:13 from the chair of the Health Select Committee.
02:15 Of course, all of this boils down to what we think the priorities of NHS dentistry must
02:21 be. Simply put, having spoken to many dentists in my constituency, I believe they boil down
02:26 to three areas—prevention, education and pain relief. That is fine. I do not think
02:33 many people are looking to disagree on that point, but if the hon. Lady wants to disagree
02:36 with me, she can. The point is that the pandemic has blurred two of those priorities off course.
02:41 The focus for the short term must be on how we have to address pain relief. That is the
02:48 issue that we face today. That is the issue that children and those of an older age are
02:53 suffering from across the country. What are the short-term actions that we can take today
03:00 and that have been mentioned on so many on this side of the House?
03:03 First, we can look at dental access centres and mobile units that can move across the
03:08 country. We think that these are perhaps fantasies. They are already in practice in some places
03:14 in the country. Indeed, this is an issue that is being raised by a number of dentists in
03:18 my area of South Devon, who are suggesting that it is not just feasible but incredibly
03:23 possible with the underspend that has not been utilised. We must unlock the money that
03:28 has not been spent through NHS contracts. I understand—I am sure my hon. Friend the
03:32 Member for North Devon will correct me if I am wrong—that there is some £50 million
03:36 of underspend of NHS dental contracts that could be made available to help those on waiting
03:43 lists. We must change, as has been said by a number of Opposition Members, the opportunity
03:48 for dental therapists to play a larger role in helping to treat people in the process
03:54 and address their needs. As I have said already, we must look to see how we can focus on pain
04:00 relief as the priority. Reform of UDA has to happen as quickly as possible. The time
04:06 and geographical disparity of this system has been found wanting. It is so clear that
04:11 right across the country, whether in an urban, rural or coastal community setting, there
04:16 are huge disparities in what people are remunerated for when it comes to a UDA.
04:22 Rather than standing here and speaking about parliamentary candidates, it is probably more
04:26 appropriate to come up and think about the solutions we can find to help address those
04:34 who are suffering so much. I will give the example in the last remaining amendments that
04:37 I have of what is going on in Devon. We have 17,000 more UDAs, which is welcome. We have
04:44 a stabilisation dental care system. We have 406 extra appointments per week that can be
04:50 found through contacting 111. We have one of the finest dental training schools in the
04:56 form of the Dental Peninsula School, located just outside of Plymouth. It is working to
05:01 help address this need. It is working to help support the Government in terms of how we
05:05 can address and help those across the country. It is looking to make sure that it can help
05:10 its trainees remain within the area after their training and make the NHS as flexible
05:17 as possible to the needs of those who need to use it. We must have the reform. I think
05:22 many of us on the Back Benches on this side of the House would also agree that we must
05:25 have the reforms that have been promised before, because they are the hook that we can hang
05:29 our hat on. They will be the solution to how we can address this.
05:33 If the Minister is able to point out and look at the short-term solutions that I have been
05:37 proposed to give a response to that, it would be welcome not just in my part of the country
05:40 but all across the country.