Report by Hope and Care – 17 December 2020
In May 2020 Healthwatch Wokingham launched a survey to understand how people in the Borough were experiencing changes in health services during Covid-19. Early analysis showed that access to information about dental care was difficult.
There is a summary of the report below. If you want to go directly to the full report, scroll down to the bottom of the article where you will find the report.
What we did
To find out more we reviewed 25 dental websites spread across the Borough in July 2020 following the resumption of dental services on 8th June 2020, with the aim of providing public information and sharing best practice. A mystery shopping approach was taken and included members of CLASP a local learning disability charity to ensure that the information provided was accessible.
What we found
The findings of our review indicate inconsistencies in the quality and reliability of the information provided by high street dentists. This included information related to service changes due to Covid-19 and important information regarding charges, access to emergency care and NHS status.
Key findings
At the time we conducted our review 29% of dental websites still did not give up to date information about the changes to services due to Covid-19.
One of the most common dental issues people approach Healthwatch with is help with finding an NHS dentist. 43% of websites did not clearly display this information.
There were some examples of excellent information that was accessible to our volunteers with learning disabilities. However, there was little consistency between dental practices.