Meon Valley's drought of NHS dentists (From This is Hampshire)

Meon Valley's drought of NHS dentists

1:13pm Sunday 3rd August 2008 in

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BBC PRESENTER Dom Littlewood was in Bishop's Waltham last week highlighting the difficulty Meon Valley residents have in accessing NHS dentists.

While filming, he met up with the Liberal Democrat prospective parilamentary candidate for the new Meon Valley seat, Liz Leffman.

Ms Leffman has been campaigning for a year to bring the area's plight to the attention of the Hampshire Primary Care Trust.

After surveying areas of the Meon Valley last year, Ms Leffman said she found that in Wickham, Whitely and Southwick, more than 50 per cent of people could not find NHS dentists.

The situation has been caused by new dental contracts implemented in 2006, where dentists who wanted to offer NHS treatment had to agree to a contract with the local Primary Care Trust.

Ms Leffman said: "Amongst other things I have been calling for dentists to be directly employed by the NHS as a better way to offer affordable dental treatment. I am campaigning on this subject because we all deserve to have proper dental care.

"It is great news that the BBC have picked up on our campaign for better dental services in the Meon Valley. This programme will send a sharp message to the government that we want a change."

The programme is due to be aired in late September.