A MENTAL hospital in Bradford is unable to get dental appointments for its patients, an MP has said.

Bradford South MP Judith Cummins raised the issue during a parliamentary debate on the impact of Covid-19 on dentistry. 

She said that "barely a week" goes by when she isn't contacted by constituents, often in severe pain, who are unable to get a dental appointment for themselves or their families.

The Labour MP said: “Just last week, I was contacted by a nurse at a mental health hospital who is unable to get dental appointments for her patients."

She said community dentists are "thinly-stretched" and high-street practices have to prioritise reaching targets, which means "vulnerable patients have no access to dental treatment at all".

Mrs Cummins called on the Government to rethink new dental activity targets and said many will hit a "financial cliff-edge", while others "will be forced to prioritise routine work such as check-ups for low risk patients at the expense of urgent care and preventive work simply to survive financially".

she said: “These are the wrong targets, at the wrong time, and the Government must think again.”