Rutland County Council's Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee will meet today, on Thursday the 13th of October, to discuss and note a report on access to NHS dental services in Rutland. 

The report will focus on dental service provision and recovery plans as services emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic within Rutland. It will also look at oral health improvement initiatives and activities, which is the statutory responsibility of the Local Authority's Public Health team. 

This comes after Rutland's Liberal Democrat team condemned the lack of NHS dentists in Rutland. Read more here.

Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader, Cllr Gale Waller responded to the 'shocking' discovery in August by the BBC that '100% of dentistry practices they approached in Rutland are not accepting any new NHS patients'.

Cllr Waller said: "People in our area should know if they are in pain or face a health emergency that the NHS is there for them. Yet these scandalous figures prove NHS dentistry in Rutland is broken. 

"The fault for this lies solely with the Conservatives. They have done next to nothing to tackle this crisis. Liberal Democrats are demanding a Health Minister explains to the people of Rutland just why we have no NHS dental care in the County for new NHS patients."

The Committee will be asked to note that all of NHS dental services will be delegated to the LLR Integrated Care Board on the 1st of April 2023. This service is currently the responsibility of NHS England.

This report has been developed by NHSE Commissioning Team Senior Manager and Consultant in Dental Public Health along with Local Authority Public Health colleagues. 

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The Committee will also receive updates from groups and panels on items such as Public Transport Service Proposals and the Economic Development Strategy, Devolution and Levelling Up. 

The public are welcome to attend the meeting which will take place in the Council Chamber at the Council's main offices in Catmose, starting at 7pm. The meeting will also be available to watch online and details of this can be found on the relevant meeting webpage.