SOUTH Cumbria has become a 'dental desert'.

That's the view of a dentist in Grange who says he has been forced to hand in his NHS contract due to the sector being chronically underfunded and neglected.

The announcement by John Carney, practice owner of Avondale Dental in Grange, that he would be moving to an independent model from April 1 this year rather than providing treatment to NHS patients, has highlighted the deepening dental crisis in South Cumbria.

Mr Carney was quick to explain the reasons for his 'difficult' decision, which leaves the town with no NHS dental practice whatsoever, even for existing patients.

It currently serves roughly 5,800 patients who are being asked to either join the newly private practice or look elsewhere.

He said: "This was not spur of the moment – I have taken advice from others, and I know it has a big impact on people.

"This has never been about money for me but the NHS is contract is simply unworkable and outdated.

"It is not patient-focused and therefore not what I'm about.

"I want to give proper care, and give attention to patients – the NHS contract doesn’t allow you to do that as you are constantly chasing targets."

He said the situation was 'getting worse' with 'no significant investment in NHS dentistry in the last 12/13 years'.

"Dentists are in a difficult position - as do we carry on providing an NHS service and really struggle delivering it, or do we have to go our own way and work independently?", he said.

"There’s been a massive lack of vision by the NHS.

"I’m not aware of any new NHS contracts being developed since I started practising in South Cumbria in 2012.

"Recruitment is another huge problem – I've been trying to recruit another dentist for a 12 months.

"I'm aware that a lot of dentists that came from Europe have moved away because of issues with visas and passports due to Brexit, and with the current contract, there's nothing to encourage new dentists to come to the area.

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"The system is currently being run on the good nature of professionals, and that isn't sustainable.

"NHS dentistry as a whole needs radical reform or you can leave it dying on the table – it's that drastic."

"I have written to Tim Farron to explain my decision, as I know that it will affect a lot of people."

In Mr Carney’s letter to Mr Farron, he said: "Like the rest of the constituency, the locale of Grange has seen increased housing.

"With this there has been a definite lack of increased health care service provision - dentistry included, to meet the extra demand.

"The pressures on local NHS dentistry has now passed breaking point.

"There is no dental practice currently in the constituency taking on new patients.

"Currently our practice sits as the sole practice in the centre of a dental desert, stretching between Ulverston to Kendal, Windermere to Arnside."

Mr Farron has written to Health Secretary Steve Barclay MP. His letter said a 'catastrophic situation is playing out in my constituency at present in relation to NHS dentistry, and constituents left high and dry unless they have the ability to afford to pay for treatment'.

Mr Farron refers to the recent announce by Avondale Dental, and goes on to say: "I have never received so many e-mails and calls as on this topic and how scared people feel, as some simply don’t have the option to dig deep and pay for private treatment, and will have to forego dental checkups until the problems become acute and they access the emergency dental care via the hospital.

"This flies in the face of preventative care and I ask for an urgent meeting to discuss how you propose to tackle these health inequalities."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "We are working to improve access to NHS dental care, backed by more than £3 billion a year.

"The number of dentists practising in the NHS increased by over 500 last year and we recently implemented reforms to provide fairer pay for practices to take on high needs patients and require dentists to make it clear which practices are taking on new patients and the services available.

"We are taking immediate action to reduce long waits for urgent and emergency care through our new recovery published this week and we will also be publishing a Primary Care Recovery Plan this year."