Prisoners have better access to free NHS dentistry than millions of law-abiding patients, an investigation has revealed.
Murderers, rapists and paedophiles are among those able to get care as quickly as the same day – at taxpayers’ expense.
Only around half (52 per cent) of the British public are registered with an NHS dentist, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Meanwhile, 97 per cent of people without a dentist who tried to get an NHS appointment in September were unable to do so.
But inspection reports reveal prisons housing some of the country’s most notorious criminals, including Belmarsh, Pentonville and Frankland, offer routine and urgent dentist appointments within weeks – if not the same day.
Dentists say there are better incentives for them to do prison work, which is outsourced to private firms. This includes higher pay, better hours and fewer targets.
Reports by HM Inspectorate of Prisons reveal routine waits at HMP Oakwood in Staffordshire were less than four weeks but ‘patients experiencing pain were able to see a dentist within one working day’.
At Buckley Hall prison in Rochdale ‘there were virtually no waits to access assessment and support’, the Telegraph found.
Meanwhile at HMP Frankland in Co Durham – a high-security jail housing Wayne Couzens, the former Metropolitan Police officer who is serving a life sentence for the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard – inmates can expect to be seen on ‘the same day’ for urgent appointments or if they are in pain.
One inmate at a category B prison told the paper: ‘After years of searching for an NHS dentist, I have finally found a very good one in prison.’
The majority of people, including those who have retired, have to pay a minimum £26.80 for a routine NHS check-up, if they can get one, while prisoners are exempt.
Prisoners across the 122 jails in England and Wales also have their fillings, dentures and other procedures paid for by the taxpayer, with some treatments costing hundreds of pounds.
Dennis Reed, the director of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said: ‘There may well be prisons that get NHS dentistry in areas which are NHS dental deserts – a little oasis in the middle of a whole area.
‘It’s completely warped priorities, and that needs to change.’
An official report on Belmarsh – one of the country’s highest security prisons – found ‘waiting times were good, with most people getting an initial assessment within seven days and ongoing treatments within a similar timeframe’.
Urgent appointments were quicker if needed and prisoners received treatments including ‘dentures, root canal work, scales, fillings, and promoting oral health’ with six sessions a week.
Convicts serving time there have included Charles Bronson, once labelled Britain’s most dangerous man, Abu Hamza, the fundamentalist Islamic preacher, as well as Michael Adebolajo, who murdered soldier Lee Rigby, and Tory MP David Amess’s killer, Ali Harbi Ali.
A Government spokesman said: ‘This government is committed to rebuilding NHS dentistry, but it will take time.
‘We will start with an extra 700,000 urgent dentistry appointments to help those who need it most, and reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients.’
An NHS spokesman said: ‘As commissioners for prison healthcare, NHS England is legally tasked with ensuring dental care is provided to patients in prison.
‘The NHS recognises that there is a lot of work to do to boost every day NHS dental care for right across the country and that’s why we are working with the Government on measures to boost access, such as incentivising dentists to work in underserved areas.’
