14 2GM Monday May 2 2022 | the times
News
A mass exodus of 2,000 NHS dentists
has led to “dental deserts” across the
UK, figures show.
About 4 million people have been left
without access to NHS care as a result,
forcing many to pay for private health-
care.
Louise Ansari, the national director
of the NHS watchdog Healthwatch
England, said: “People are struggling to
get the dental treatment they need
when they need it. This is a hugely
worrying issue.
“Some dental practices have either
shut down or have gone fully private,
with some dentists having used up their
total NHS capacity and asking people
The chairman of Asda has urged
ministers to do more to tackle the
cost-of-living crisis, warning that
people will suffer as prices rise and re-
main high.
Lord Rose of Monewden would not
predict how much food prices could in-
crease, but said “there is a knock-on
effect” due to the cost of raw materials
and the impact of inflation.
Sunflower oil, wheat and oil prices
have been affected by the war in
Ukraine. Recent data from the market
researcher Kantar suggested that infla-
tion for overall grocery prices had now
hit 5.9 per cent in the fastest rise since
December 2011.
Overall consumer price index infla-
tion jumped to 7 per cent in March, and
analysts have predicted it could have
hit more than 8 per cent in April due to
the impact of higher energy bills.
Rose said the government could
improve the situation by making rules
for the supermarket industry simpler
and uniform.
He called for “continuity across the
four countries in the UK”, telling the
BBC’s Sunday Morning show: “At the
moment there are not uniform rules
about the disposal of waste. There are
not uniform rules about Covid. There
are not uniform rules about all sorts of
things. The government needs to look
and say ‘how do we make things sim-
pler?’.”
Rose added that ministers could also
help the cost of living crisis by talking to
food retailers “to make sure that we are
cutting out every extra cost”.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is under
pressure from Tory MPs, some cabinet
ministers and Labour to do more to
help people with the cost of living.
Last week official data showed that
91 per cent of British adults reported
their cost of living had increased, up
from 88 per cent earlier in April.
The most common reason was
higher food prices, with 92 per cent of
people saying their grocery bill had in-Shoppers will
keep suffering,
food boss warns
Charlie Moloney creased. Rose conceded that the gov-
ernment “can’t solve all the problems”,
adding: “Sadly, the consumer will also
suffer.”
He suggested that families should cut
out products they do not need as costs
reach “a new high”, adding: “What we
all now have to do is maybe change our
behaviours. I will personally look at my
own behaviour — what things I need
and what things I don’t need.”
The latest official data suggests that
about four in ten people have bought
less food during the past two weeks due
to rising costs.
Figures from the Office for National
Statistics found that 39 per cent of
adults said they had trimmed back their
grocery shopping, rising from 34 per
cent a fortnight ago and 18 per cent at
the start of the year.
Referring to the rising cost of raw ma-
terials, Rose said there would be a “new
level” that “won’t go down”. “It is a new
high and that is something that people
are going to have to accommodate,” he
said.
“What we are now going to have to
think about is, is that going to have a
long-term effect on inflation because
then will we have a wage spiral, or won’t
we?”
New figures suggest that Aldi stores
have been visited by a million extra
shoppers in the past 12 weeks.
The budget supermarket has attract-
ed customers as the cost-of-living crisis
has seen many of its rivals lose trade as
shoppers cut back on all but essentials,
according to Kantar.
Aldi now has 8.8 per cent of the
market share of Britain’s overall super-
market sales while fellow budget brand
Lidl has 6.6 per cent, giving the two a
combined total of nearly £1 in every £
spent at the checkout. A decade ago the
two together accounted for only 5.5 per
cent of the total share.
Of the big four supermarkets, Tesco
has a 27 per cent share; Sainsbury’s has
15 per cent; Asda 14.1 per cent and Mor-
risons 9 per cent. Aldi and Lidl’s com-
bined total is 15.4 per cent.motion. Millions are going without the
care they need, and quick fixes are no
substitute for real reform and fair fund-
ing.” The ADG report states that the
area covered by the NHS clinical com-
missioning group in North Lincoln-
shire has the lowest number of NHS
dentists per 100,000 people — just 32.
North East Lincolnshire and the East
Riding of Yorkshire are joint second
worst with 37.
The ADG’s chairman, Neil Carmich-
ael, a former Conservative MP, added:
“Dental deserts not only stretch across
the whole of the east of England, from
east Yorkshire, through Lincolnshire
and down to Norfolk, but are now
emerging in many other ‘red wall’ con-
stituencies.”Wing and a prayer A Tiger Moth flies over York Minster for checks before it can take passengers for the RAF Benevolent Fund
CHARLOTTE GRAHAMMillions lose care as dentists quit NHS
for private fees instead,” she told The
Guardian. Ansari added that children,
disabled people and those living in care
homes were the worst affected.
The latest NHS figures, provided to
The Guardian by the Association of
Dental Groups (ADG) after a freedom
of information request, showed the
number of dentists providing NHS care
in England fell from 23,733 at the end
of 2020 to 21,544 at the end of January
this year.
Shawn Charlwood, the chairman of
the British Dental Association’s general
dental practice committee, said: “Den-
tists are simply not seeing a future in
the NHS, with a broken contract
pushing out talent every day. We need
to halt an exodus that’s already inCharlie Moloney