Labour MP for Bathgate and Linlithgow’s hypocritical and inaccurate statement on access to NHS dentistry, 95% and 21% higher in Scotland, and available in her own town, just to please Sir Keir at PMQs

By Professor John Robertson OBA

Thanks again AR:

Kirsteen Sullivan Labour MP for Bathgate and Linlithgow, has just asked PM Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs about a shortage of dentists in Scotland which then allowed Starmer to attack the SNP.

We see, above, Sullivan’s supposed commitment to honesty in public life.

However, on the availability of NHS dentistry in Scotland, she doesn’t want you to know the honest truth, this:

From Public Health Scotland, May 28, 2024:

5,182,993 people were registered with an NHS dentist as at 31 March 2024 (94.6% of the Scottish population). 732,618 extensive clinical examinations were paid in the quarter ending March 2024 under the new pay arrangements

I can’t find directly comparable figures for NHS England, but from a UK Parliament report in 2023:

1 in 5 Britons (22%) are currently not “registered” with a dentist. Of those who were not “registered” 37% said this was because they couldn’t find an NHS dentist.

Only 78% in UK registered, 16.6% lower than the 94.6% in Scotland. So access to NHS dentistry in Scotland 21% higher (16.6% of 78) than in UK.

Maybe, to be fair, there’s a shortage of NHS dentistry in Bathgate?

Hmmm, could she be just another big fibber?

Sources:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report-quarter-ending-march-2024/

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhealth/964/report.html

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11 thoughts on “Labour MP for Bathgate and Linlithgow’s hypocritical and inaccurate statement on access to NHS dentistry, 95% and 21% higher in Scotland, and available in her own town, just to please Sir Keir at PMQs”

  2. I watched it and I bristled. They use HR as a platform for their unionist PPBs and now, the same happens in reverse in WM. The new Labour MPs use their position in WM to give Starmer an opportunity to slag off Scotland and the SG.

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  3. Getting Scottish (?) Labour MPs to face the TRUE facts about Scotland’s Health Service is like pulling teeth !

    As Sarwar the former dentist might say :

    ”Read my lips but don’t believe a word of it !”

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  4. Labour’s Scottish MP’S have even primed to ask questions every week about the SNP to give Starmer a chance to have a pop at them , if it tells us anything it tells us they are terrified of the SNP taking power in Hollyrood in 2026 , they are still of the opinion Scotland belongs to Labour UK !

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  5. It seems to be a common theme that when public services are worse in England the information is hidden away out of sight or is difficult to come by.

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  6. The irony here is staggering. Kirsteen Sullivan never mentioned dentists in Bathgate—she highlighted the lack of NHS dental care in Blackburn, where an unused dental space has been an issue since 2018. Misrepresenting her question to attack her is both hypocritical and wildly inaccurate. Addressing health inequalities is representation, not ‘pleasing’ anyone.

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