Category Archives: Press releases

• Government have left dental services to rot and now think they can rebuild it with a handful of toothpicks
• 2.2 million people’s work impacted by being stuck on NHS waiting lists
• Dentist dossier: Five Conservative failures on dental care
• “More opportunities needed for young people living in rural Wales”- Welsh Lib Dems

Government have left dental services to rot and now think they can rebuild it with a handful of toothpicks

Responding to Health Secretary Victoria Atkins morning interviews on the Government’s new dental plan, Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

Seeing a Minister duck and dive on the reality of dental funding cuts will be hard to swallow for millions who have been left waiting for so long under this Government.

The reality is they’ve left our dental services to rot and now think they can rebuild it with a handful of toothpicks.

People are sick and tired of a Conservative government that doesn’t know how to fix yet another crisis of its own making.

2.2 million people’s work impacted by being stuck on NHS waiting lists

Around 2.2 million people are seeing their work impacted by being stuck on waiting lists for NHS treatment, including many going on long-term sick leave or reducing their hours, analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

This is up from 1.41 million people whose work was being affected by waiting for NHS treatment in January 2023. It comes after Rishi Sunak admitted this week he has failed to meet his pledge to bring down NHS waiting lists.

The Liberal Democrats said it showed the Conservative government’s failure to tackle soaring NHS waiting lists was dealing a “hammer blow” to the economy.

The figures are based on the latest Office for National Statistics survey looking at the impact of being on an NHS waiting list, conducted between October 2023 and January 2024. The survey found that over one in four adults report they are waiting for a hospital appointment, test, or to start receiving medical treatment through the NHS.

Among those who said their lives had been impacted by waiting for NHS treatment, 24% said their work had been affected, equivalent to over 2.2 million people across the country. Of these, the survey suggests that around 626,300 (29%) people had reduced their hours, 367,000 (17%) had gone on long-term sick leave and 151,000 (7%) had stopped working to go on illness related benefits.