Over the summer of 2024 the LDC Confederation worked with the local Healthwatch in London to run an informal survey of the public to gather their thoughts on dentistry.
Rather than asking questions about access, we wanted to find out if the public supported dentistry being available on the NHS, and if so how important this was to them. We wanted to know how they felt about their oral health and how important oral health was to them, and we wanted to know what people really thought about patient charges.
The survey was promoted by several local Healthwatch through their social media channels and garnered almost 300 responses, the majority from south west London. The survey is not representative of the London population, and so these results need to be considered a starting point for more robust research. That said, the responses received make for interesting and thought provoking reading which we hope will be built on by others in the future.
Some of the key findings from the report include:
- Over 98 per cent of respondents agreed that primary care dental services should be available on the NHS.
- Eighty seven per cent of those who felt dentistry should be free on the NHS rated oral health as important or very important to them.
- Overall 49 per cent of respondents felt NHS dentistry should be free, 11 per cent felt people should pay for all NHS dental care, 12 per cent agreed people should pay for check ups but not complex care, and 27 per cent felt people should pay for complex care but not a check up.
- Ninety three per cent felt their oral health was extremely important or very important to them, with a further six per cent saying it was important to them.
- Ninety per cent agreed it was extremely important or very important to them that dentistry is available on the NHS and six per cent stated it was important to them that dentistry was available on the NHS.
The final report is available here.
