Where to go for dentist? (From Barry And District News)

Where to go for dentist?

THE HEALTH watchdog for the Vale of Glamorgan has said the Local Health Board is not providing the public with enough information on where to obtain NHS dental treatment.

The Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council has called on the Local Health Board (LHB) to produce a guide to NHS dental treatment in the Vale.

Gordon Harrop, Chief Executive of the Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council, said: "With the introduction of the new NHS dental contracts in April, the system has become very complex indeed.

"A major problem in our view is that the public are unable to find out which NHS services are available to them and where they can be obtained.

"We believe that the Vale of Glamorgan Local Health Board has a responsibility to provide this kind of information and should produce a guide or leaflet on NHS dental provision in the Vale area.

"The public do not know who is doing what NHS work."

Mr Harrop said he has already raised the public information issue with the Local Health Board on several occasions at recent meetings.

He added: "There is of course also the lack of NHS services provision per se, but that is a separate issue.

"Although there is a lack of provision in the Vale, it actually still compares favourably to other areas in Wales."

A spokesperson for the Vale of Glamorgan LHB said: "Full details of NHS services available in the Vale of Glamorgan are published in our Community Health Map which is regularly updated and on our website."

The LHB website can be found at www.valeofglamorganlhb.wales.nhs.uk

Mr Harrop said: "Our position is that the way the LHB is communicating information to the public is unsatisfactory.

"Firstly, not everyone has access to the internet, particularly older and poorer members of society.

"I think the acid test is if you stopped 10 people in a town centre and asked them where they could go for NHS treatment, none of them would know."