Hundreds queued overnight on the streets of Faversham in Kent (Picture: Facebook/Faversham Smiles/@Theos_Nan)
Hundreds of people spent the night queueing outside a Kent dental practice after it opened NHS slots for the first time.
In a sign of the growing desperation for subsidised treatment, a staggering 27,000 people made phone calls to Faversham Smile clinic, and hundreds emailed in.
The overwhelming response came after the practice announced it would offer 60 NHS slots to the first 20 people in the queue, and the first 20 to email and call.
Business manager Elli Cain told Kent Online: ‘Since 8am when we opened, and our intake began, we’ve had over 100 people attend the practice, over 700 emails, and our phone system has logged over 27,000 calls – so far.
‘From the first 60 inquiries – 20 in queue, 20 by phone, and 20 by email – we have managed to secure appointments for over 120 patients.
‘I appreciate that compared to the sheer volume of inquiries today, this seems like very few; I simply ask that everyone bear in mind that these appointments have been secured in the near future, without needing to wait for months.
‘We must work within our capacity as there is no sense in booking in hundreds of patients but then not being able to provide their required treatment in a reasonable timeframe.’
The clinic was inundated with requests for subsidised treatment (Picture: Facebook/Faversham Smiles/@Theos_Nan)
Outraged residents reacted to the queue photos online by calling them a ‘badge of shame for the government’, with another expressing their sadness for ‘the state of the country’.
The high demand for affordable treatment is seen by some as a symptom of the inadequate current system, with thousands of patients losing access to treatment because of a shortage of NHS dentists.
Many have resorted to DIY dentistry, with some so desperate they’re pulling their own teeth out with pliers at home.
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A recent report by the Health and Social Care Committee called for an ‘urgent and fundamental reform’ of NHS dentistry, calling it ‘totally unacceptable in the 21st century’.
Steve Brine MP said: ‘Rarely has an inquiry been more necessary than this one. To hear of someone in such pain and distress that they resorted to using pliers to extract their teeth demonstrates the crisis in NHS dental services.
‘The problem is compounded by people being unaware of what they’re entitled to and a contract that is unfit for purpose when it comes to paying dentists for treating NHS patients.
‘Today we register in the strongest terms possible our concern for the future of NHS dental services and the patients who desperately need access to them.’
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People are calling it a ‘badge of shame for the government’.
