Oral and maxillofacial waiting times fall in Ayrshire & Arran

-Credit: (Image: Copyright Unknown)
-Credit: (Image: Copyright Unknown)


Patients needing oral and maxillofacial surgery in Ayrshire have seen wait times reduce - but some are still enduring lists of more than two YEARS.

Figures obtained following a freedom of information (FOI) request from the Scottish Labour Party revealed an average waiting time of 43 weeks for oral and maxillofacial surgery in Ayrshire with some patients waiting up to 121 weeks in 2023-24.

Labour have said the figures are “completely shocking” while NHS Ayrshire & Arran have recruited new staff “to reduce the waiting times for those requiring these specialist treatments and procedures”.

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Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a specialist discipline which involves surgeries to the face, mouth, jaw and neck.

Although still above pre-pandemic levels, the average wait has fallen from a peak of 81 weeks in 2022-23 and the longest waits have fallen from a peak of 157 weeks in 2022-23.

South Scotland Labour MSP, Colin Smyth, claimed the “huge waits” were for “dental surgery” but NHS Ayrshire & Arran clarified that the FOI data only referred to oral and maxillofacial surgery and not procedures carried out in a community dental practice.

The data released by Labour did include information on other health boards but the figures were generally incomparable due to the differing data provided by each health board.

NHS Fife, NHS Grampian and NHS Highland all provided the equivalent data to NHS Ayrshire & Arran and all had shorter average waiting times but only NHS Fife had a longer waiting time which was less than NHS Ayrshire & Arran.

Cameron Sharkey, divisional general manager for surgical services, said: “Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a speciality surgical discipline which relates to complex issues with the mouth, face, jaws and neck.

“Patients may be referred into the service for a number of reasons, including:

  • removal of cancerous or benign tumours,

  • treatment of complex craniofacial fractures,

  • orthognathic surgery, eg repair of cleft lip or palate,

  • removal of impacted teeth and complex buried dental roots, and

  • removal of cysts and tumours of the jaw.

“At NHS Ayrshire & Arran, our objective is to provide the best service possible to patients requiring these kind of treatments.

“We have recently adjusted the referral pathway for patients and have successfully recruited specialist consultants to expand the team and we aim to continue our efforts to reduce the waiting times for those requiring these specialist treatments and procedures.”

MSP Mr Smyth said: “These statistics are completely shocking but sadly, no-one in our region will be remotely surprised that once again, people are forced to suffer while waiting for dental surgery.

“Being in pain every time you eat a meal or try to talk is agony for a few days, let alone months or years, but that is the reality for many of those unfortunate enough to be on a waiting list for dental surgery.

“For years, dentistry in Ayrshire & Arran has been in crisis. I am furious that the Scottish Government has repeatedly failed to wake up to the growing dental crisis.

“The double whammy of the Brexit, which meant there are almost no EU dentists coming to the UK anymore, and more significantly, the Scottish Government’s failure to properly fund dentists means practices across the country have axed adult NHS services, forcing people to got private. When people need specialist dental care they are having to wait longer and longer.

“Both Governments have been warned over and over that this would happen but they have completely ignored those warnings.”

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