In Welsh First Minister’s Questions on July 1, Paul Davies MS challenged Eluned Morgan on the provision of dental services in rural areas like Pembrokeshire.

The First Minister responded:

“Thanks to changes that the Welsh Labour Government has made to improve access in the current dental contract, more than 11,000 new patients across west Wales saw an NHS dentist and received a full course of treatment in the last year.

“These were part of the nearly 87,000 patients in total treated by the NHS in dentistry in Hywel Dda. That shows that our reforms are working, and we’re delivering the biggest shake-up of NHS dentistry in the past 20 years.”

To this, Mr Davies replied: “Whatever you say, First Minister, you'll be aware of recent concerns raised by the British Dental Association, which has claimed that the Welsh Government's proposed NHS dental reforms are a leap in the dark that could destroy the service—those are their words, not my words.

“As you know, access to dental care has been a huge problem in Pembrokeshire for many years. I have repeatedly raised this in the Chamber, and now even Henry Tufnell, the local Labour MP, has quite rightly stepped in and said that the Welsh Government's reforms, as proposed, could make a bad situation even worse, particularly for rural areas like Pembrokeshire.

“Therefore, in light of the concerns raised by the sector, by myself, and now by the Labour MP, will the Welsh Government pause and listen to the warnings of those in the profession and meaningfully engage with the British Dental Association to find a way forward before it’s too late?”

The First Minister responded: “We have spent 13 months working with the British Dental Association to design the new contract. They were fully involved in developing those proposals, and they are out for consultation. It’s been the biggest response to a consultation, I think, ever in the history of devolution. So, obviously, we will take time now to go through those responses and make sure that we respond accordingly.”

Jane Dodds commented that “access to dentistry in rural areas is particularly challenging. People have to travel further and they have to wait on waiting lists for much longer.” She mentioned that she had been to see the mobile dentistry unit that Powys Teaching Health Board had in Hay-on-Wye. “It seemed to be a really positive development in getting out to our rural areas and being able to meet the needs of the population.”

The First Minister said that Hywel Dda are also using a mobile unit located in St David’s park, but added that there are limitations with mobile dentistry, for example, in relation to infection prevention and control. She also said that the Welsh Government, acknowledging the difficulty, sometimes, of recruiting people to rural areas, has given an additional £7,000 salary uplift to dentists working in those areas. “That comes along with enhanced academic and wellbeing support, and all of those places have been filled.”