IF South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust and Malvern dentists can't sit down and resolve their impasse on new NHS contracts, it is clear our children are going to pay the price.
Dental care is, on the face of it, pretty expensive. For a family with two children, it could be very expensive, for many probably too expensive.
If NHS or heavily discounted private treatment is not available, many will choose to go without dental check-ups.
There is something very uncomfortable about trained medical practitioners not even being prepared to treat children in an emergency without first checking whether they can afford to pay, but that is the road we are going down.
But the PCT's position seems entirely unrealistic, not to say irresponsible. If it doesn't try to work with dentists, they aren't going to sign the new contract and, despite its promises, the PCT has so far proved incapable of finding the extra dentists needed to meet existing NHS demand, let alone adopting a position which looks likely to leave thousands of children without an NHS dentist.
WE really do wonder about Malvern Hills District Council's priorities at the moment.
This is a council that is still putting a great deal of time and money into plans for a new £6.5 million office for its staff, yet is not prepared to find £22,000 to keep open public toilets in Malvern, Upton and Tenbury Wells.
The council should be doing much more to support and encourage new events, like the Elgar Festival in June, which are bringing more visitors to the town centre, not putting obstacles in the way.
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