Gideon Amos, slammed the last government’s legacy of a “dental desert” in Somerset this week

The MP for Taunton and Wellington, Gideon Amos, slammed the last government’s legacy of a “dental desert” in Somerset this week during the first full day of Liberal Democrat business in Parliament for 15 years.

He was supporting his party’s two motions to fix the health and care crises.

Mr Amos told the Commons: “We have heard about the Sahara Desert; if Norfolk is the eastern Sahara, Somerset and Devon are the western Sahara of dental deserts.

“More than half the children in Somerset did not have access to an NHS dentist last year, which puts Somerset in the worst-hit 5% of local authority areas in the country.

“The picture for adults is pretty similar. I set up a survey back in 2022 to draw attention to the lack of dentistry in Taunton and Wellington.

“Official NHS figures show that, in 2015, the majority (56%) had access to an NHS dentist, but that has gone down to only 32% this year.

“As has been said, 99% of people who need an NHS dentist cannot get one.

“That is a totally unacceptable situation and a primary care time bomb because, as we have heard, the biggest cause of hospital admission for children under six is tooth decay.

“Also, oral cancers are on the rise year on year, and without early detection by dentists, that will only get worse.

“Just as the social contract under which people felt that they would get care is broken, so is the dental contract itself.

“I urge the Government to tell the House how soon they will repair the dental contract and when they will increase the units of dental activity payments so that the contract works. We need a timescale for addressing that.”

Mr Amos told of a constituent, called Kathryn, who had been with her NHS dentist for 20 years.

“Like so many others, she lost them when that dentist withdrew NHS treatment. “

“But unlike many other people, Kathryn is undergoing treatment for secondary breast cancer, the side effects of which mean that her doctor has instructed her to have regular dental treatment.

“She is now using her hard-earned savings to pay for that dental treatment because it is not possible to get it on the NHS in Somerset.

“It is disgraceful and totally unacceptable that cancer sufferers are using their hard-earned savings to repair the damage of the legacy of appalling NHS dental services left by the last Government.”

Mr Amos also supported comments made by his fellow Lib Dem, Sarah Dyke, the MP for Glastonbury and Somerton.

“GPs in my constituency are leaving at an alarming rate, which is a problem of great concern across Somerset,” he said.

The motion urged Ministers to tackle the NHS crisis by improving access to GPs, NHS dentists and community pharmacists.

After Labour MPs voted against, Mr Amos expressed his disappointment and pledged to continue fighting for health and care to be top of the Parliamentary priority list.

In the first debate of the day, the Liberal Democrats focused Parliament’s attention on the Carer’s Allowance repayments scandal, calling on the Government to write off existing overpayments and conduct a full review of support for unpaid carers.

Mr Amos also spoke in that debate, urging ministers to increase the amount carers can earn before losing their allowance.

The government responded the same day by announcing an independent review of carers allowance overpayments.

Speaking after the debate, Mr Amos added: “We said in the election we would focus on care and health.

“Today, Ed Davey and our team in Parliament have delivered the promise of potential relief for thousands who are being made to repay carers' allowance, often when overpayments are the fault of the government itself and when they can ill afford to do so.

“Unpaid and family carers deserve better, and we’ll continue to push for the earnings limit to be increased and its effects tapered.

“At the moment, the limit is a ‘cliff edge’ which means people lose all their allowance in one go - the effect on carers is quite simply cruel and unremitting”.