MORE than 500 calls were received from south Cumbrians requesting urgent dental care in March.

The NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) provides a helpline which guarantees a dentist appointment for urgent matters.

Data provided by the ICB shows the number of calls made to the Lancashire and South Cumbria Dental Helpline in March - and it registered 561 calls from south Cumbria.

The towns with the highest requests for urgent dental care last month came from Barrow with 245 calls, Kendal with 121 calls and Ulverston with 41 calls. 

The lowest came from Kirkby-in-Furness with five calls and Broughton-in-Furness with two calls.

Across Lancashire and south Cumbria, the number of urgent or emergency appointments was 4,776.

Only 25 patients were allocated to a practice for routine and ongoing care.

Amy Lepiorz, associate director of primary care for Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), explained providing access to NHS dental care continues to be a 'priority' both locally and nationally.

She said: "We recognise the difficulties that many patients are having in accessing routine dental care.

“In Lancashire and South Cumbria, we have launched the dental access and oral health improvement programme to improve access to primary care dental services in the high street and to improve oral health.

“This will include services such as routine care for people who require a check-up and any follow-up care, as well as urgent dental care for those in immediate need of support, prioritising the parts of Lancashire and South Cumbria with the greatest need for dental access and oral health support. It will also aim to reduce inequalities in dental access and oral health across the region.

“The programme will focus on where investment should be prioritised, improving patient pathways, communications to the public and to staff, and supporting retention and recruitment of the dental workforce.”

The helpline operates from 8am to 9pm on weekdays and 10am to 5pm on weekends and bank holidays.

Dentist Clare Granger, and senior clinical fellow for the ICB, emphasized the importance of the service. She said: "We know that access to NHS dental services is a difficult issue at the moment and we receive complaints from local people who are struggling to access an NHS dentist."

She further stated that anyone can access urgent dental care as an NHS patient through the helpline, irrespective of having a regular NHS dentist.

Urgent dental attention can be accessed through 0300 1234010.