Dentistry report in Trafford

Findings

Availability of NHS places at Trafford dental practices

• Our mystery shopper exercise identified that of 33 1 practices in Trafford, only 6 are currently taking on NHS patients.
• We have had Trafford residents tell us they have tried calling as many as 20 dentist surgeries and failed to get registered as an NHS patient (see case study #1)

Clarity of information available to Trafford residents regarding dental services

• 40% of respondents to our survey would use NHS choices to find a dentist, which follows the NHS’s own advice, and yet our mystery shopper exercise found that a large proportion of the NHS choices information regarding dentists in Trafford is inaccurate. (See appendix 1)

Community dental services for people with disabilities 

• We received 4 complaints and concerns specifically about community dentistry. These were predominantly about access to the service – with too few staff, limited availability of appointments and lack of ability to have community check-ups being identified as the main concerns.