Opinion: Time our fairytale past became a reality

You may have to wait a day or two but, after a brief chat with a receptionist, you could get to see someone.

The same goes for a dentist. There used to be NHS dentists in every town and city across the land. You registered with a practice and, if you went regularly for check-ups and treatment, you could get an appointment.

Young people and teenagers probably think this was a fairytale, thus the opening line.

The stark reality is that people in Peterborough are finding it impossible to get an NHS dentist when they need one. The consequences for patients are appalling. What kind of country have the Conservatives allowed us to become, where the most common reason children go to hospital is to have rotting teeth removed?

Where people are forced to pull out their own teeth with pliers? Yes, DIY dentistry flourishing in one of the richest countries in the world. NHS dentistry is dying a slow death. Dentists continue to leave the NHS. Huge parts of the country are dental deserts. Few practices, if any, in Peterborough are taking on NHS patients.

Having overseen the managed decline of NHS dentistry for the past 13 years, the government is looking at only providing NHS dentistry to children and the most vulnerable. That means, for the rest of us, we will be left to sink or swim.

I trust that you find this as unacceptable as I do.

The Labour party were the architects and founding fathers of the NHS and dentistry is a key cornerstone of the service and Labour will make sure healthcare is available to all who need it.

NHS dentistry needs to be reformed over the long term, so that everyone who needs an NHS dentist can get one.

Whilst the policy package will cost £111 million per year, the plan is to pay for it by abolishing the ‘non-dom’ tax loophole, because people who live and work in Britain should pay their taxes here, as I am sure you will agree.

I have the privilege of chairing Peterborough City Council’s Corporate Parenting committee. For far too long, our looked after children had to go as far as Littleport or Ely to get their teeth checked. Foster Carers were being trained to conduct basic dental health checks – in one of the richest economies in the world.

It cannot go on and I have banged the drum for NHS dentistry for a long time. Thanks to councillors working together, dentistry for looked after children in Peterborough is better now than it has been for some time, I am pleased to report. But, for many adults, the past I described is now a long way from reality and we can and should do better than the dental desert we have become along with the eight o’clock scramble for appointments at the doctors.

Whether it is for Peterborough’s looked after children or our own nearest and dearest, we need to restore and improve our health services for everyone.

I grew up in that era. It made me proud to be Labour and thankful to be British. I want our looked after children and my own grandchildren to have that opportunity and for the ‘fairytale’ past to become a reality once more.