Julian raised concerns about Bupa Holgate Park with Health Minister
May 23, 2023
Julian has met with the Minister responsible for Dental Care, Neil O’Brien MP, to discuss the closure of Bupa’s Dental Care Practice at Holgate Park as well as wider issues affecting dental care both in York and across the country.
This meeting follows from Bupa’s announcement that it will close its Holgate Park practice on 30th June and constituents getting in contact to voice their concerns over access to NHS dental Care.
The meeting was constructive and the Minister was engaged, honest and receptive to all the points that were raised in the meeting and has offered to lend his support when we meet with our local Integrated Care Board shortly.
The important points that will be raised in this next meeting with the Minister and the ICB is to ensure that the ICB successfully enact their responsibility to recommission the NHS dental contract of Holgate Park elsewhere either on a temporary or permanent basis to ensure that nobody is left without the dental care they need or deserve.
There is broad consensus across Government that dental care is in urgent need of reform, primarily because the New Labour NHS dental contracts are simply not fit for purpose or sustainable as we move forward. Julian welcomed the Minister frank acknowledgement of this and was pleased to see how engaged the Minister was with our situation in York. The Minister stated that he hopes to provide an announcement to the House before Summer recess in July which will focus largely around workforce reforms and providing short term alleviation to this sector with longer-term solutions to follow.
Julian also raised the importance of increasing data collection of the NHS dental care workforce to gain a greater understanding of the situation we face. There has been a trend that shows that while we have recruited more dentists than last year dentists appear disincentivised from carrying out their contractually agreed NHS dental care work. This is a huge problem and one that has its basis in the outdated dental care contracts that the Government is now seeking to review and reform.
Following the meeting Julian commented,
“It was great to meet with the Minister and I was incredibly grateful for his engagement with our situation in York which has been exacerbated by the announcement from Bupa that their Holgate Park premises will close on 30th June.
I will continue to keep the Minister updated with my meetings with local dental care practices and welcome his offer to call on our local ICB to meet with myself and him shortly. It is incredibly import that the ICB recognises its responsibility to recommission in some shape or form the NHS contract that was held by Bupa Holgate Park so that people are not left without the NHS dental care they need.
Additionally, I welcome the Minister’s open and frank acknowledgement that more must be done nationally to reform our dental care sector and I look forward to his announcement in the Summer”.
