Mercer focuses on fixing crisis in NHS dentistry

TORY MP TAKES AIM AFTER LOSING NHS TREATMENT

- CARL EVE

THE Tory MP for Plymouth Moor View says he has “formally switched my attention to tackling the dentistry crisis” – after he was “booted out” of his NHS dentist.

The announcement from Johnny Mercer came earlier this week, in one of his regular e-mailed newsletters to his constituents and followers. He revealed: “I – like so many others – have just been booted out of my NHS Dentist, and together with so many of you am fed up with how hard it is for some of our city’s poorest children to get a dentist appointment, yet alone the rest of us.”

He went on to “pay tribute to Whiteigh Community Primary”, who he said had initially raised the matter with him “last autumn”, adding that since then the contract for local NHS Dentistry provision has moved from NHS England to the more local Devon Integrated Care Board.

However, he added: “But I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen the improvement I would have liked this to herald, and, after significant improvements in our performance at Derriford Hospital, I have now formally switched my attention to tackling the dentistry crisis.”

He went on to say this isn’t about tackling issues “because they affect me personally”. He said this had started “last Friday, when we had a very positive meeting of local NHS leaders, dentists and others: this can be solved, and it was a very encouraging meeting with a determination to meet this challenge.