Black Country patients having to travel for dental treatment
Patients in a Black Country borough have had to travel further afield for corrective dental treatment after health bosses were forced to turned people away.
People have been unable to be treated in Dudley for around 16 months after officials refused to take further patients.
This was due to a 'significant mismatch between demand and capacity' in the borough.
Those patients have instead been referred to Birmingham, Solihull and other parts of the Black Country for orthodontic treatment, such as braces.
Only one consultant was managing the service out of Russells Hall Hospital with health chiefs unable to recruit a second.
Now dentists in Dudley say they are concerned after the consultant retired leaving the service with only a locum to deal with remaining patients.
Officials in charge of the service at the hospital today said they are planning to re-advertise the position.
Dudley Local Dental Committee chairman Sue Stevens, who works at Norton Dental Practice, in Stourbridge, said there is still a 'major problem' with the service.
"The waiting list is still closed, now months since January 2014," she said.
"Children with severe orthodontic problems, unsuitable for treatment in primary care, are unable to access consultant led services.
"The consultant has now retired, and a locum appointed for six months, who is unlikely to be seeing patients from the waiting list.
"The commissioners at NHS England in Birmingham seem to be content to forget about provision of services in Dudley."
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Paula Clark said: "The orthodontic service remains closed to new referrals.
"Despite attempts to recruit to the consultant post, we have been unsuccessful.
"This is in line with a national shortage of orthodontists.
"We are about to make a further attempt to recruit by advertising the position again."
Ben Cochrane, who is head of Public Health Commissioning for NHS England West Midlands said: "Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley no longer accepts referrals for new orthodontic patients.
"The hospital is continuing to work through the waiting list of existing patients, and the recent appointment of a new consultant will enable that to continue.
"We are currently working with The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust to look at options to enable patients on the waiting list to be treated quicker.
"Orthodontic capacity across Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country has been improved, to help address the lack of capacity at Russells Hall Hospital, with several hospitals across the region accepting new orthodontic referrals."
