Dental services in Norwich and Norfolk are in crisis, hundreds of adults and children cannot get the care that they need. I’m campaigning to save dental services in Norwich and Norfolk. 

Healthwatch Norfolk, say there are no dentists in Norfolk accepting new adult patients, and just over 50% of all enquiries in the last year were about people’s experiences with dentistry. 

Here are some of the things I’ve been doing to get better dental care for local people:

September 2024

• Alongside Alice Macdonald MP, I met the Health and Social Care Minister Stephen Kinnock to discuss the next steps towards getting a dental school at the University of East Anglia, something I have long campaigned for.
• You can read about our meeting here.

September 2024

• As soon as Parliament resumed from summer recess, I sponsored a debate in Parliament entitled “Healthcare provision in the East of England”. Dentistry was a key feature of my speech in this debate, as I highlighted our region’s dental desert and the fact that we only have one dentist per 2,600 people.
• You can read more about this debate here.
• You can watch part of my speech below.

July 2023

• I supported the University of East Anglia’s initiative to establish a Dental Development Centre initiative in Norwich. 
• Read about the initiative here.

June 2023 

• I hosted a roundtable with constituents who desperately needed dental care but had issues in accessing an affordable dentist. Read more here. 
• Watch the video of the roundtable here. 

May 2023 

• I challenged the Prime Minister on the dentistry crisis in Norwich at Prime Minister’s Questions. Read more here. 
• Watch my intervention here. 

November 2021 

• I backed an amendment to the Health and Care Bill which would have required the Secretary of State to report on the levels of access to NHS dentistry in England. I back setting out average waiting times in each region and describing what actions need to be taken to improve them as necessary. 
• Read about the amendment here. 

October 2021 

• I joined a cross-party group of MPs in writing to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to call for NHS dentistry to be provided with the resources it needs. 
• Read the letter here. 

May 2021 

• I took part in a Westminster Hall debate on Oral Health and Dentistry, where I raised my constituents’ concerns about not being able to get an appointment with their local dentists. 
• You can watch my intervention here. 

If people in my constituency cannot access the dental care they need when they need it, I’m afraid we only have a National Health Service in name only.