Sir – For most of us attending a local dental appointment in Oxfordshire may be a bit daunting, for me in the wallet department, yet getting there is relatively straight-forward. Either get in your car or hop on a bus and hey presto, job done.

However, if you are someone, like my father who lives in a local village, dependent on a wheelchair for mobility, no longer drives and relies on NHS Patient Transport Services to get around, he hits an obstacle —no NHS-PTS are available to transport patients who require dental-related appointments.

For a number of years now my father has both experienced the pain of toothache and frustration at an infrastructure that neglects him.

 If, the nature of his condition/pain related to another part of his body, a scan for headaches, then it is no problem for NHS-PTS to be involved in transporting, no questions asked. 

So, why are the NHS, excluding a potentially growing vulnerable, ageing population who depend on attending regular NHS dentist surgeries being denied access? In this day and age is this neglect lawful?

The sole reason for this issue appears to rest with NHS-PTS themselves, being reluctant in tendering for this additional workload.

Maybe the law needs to change to make it a legal obligation for them to deliver this service to NHS dentists as well as hospital transport trips. Funding is squeezed as we know and it may be that NHS-PTS are acutely aware at being overstretched.

That said, the NHS is open to complaint and possible legal action if this issue is not addressed. I, therefore, call the NHS to account and hope that this correspondence does not fall on silent ears.

Julian Keeble, Bicester