IT IS outrageous that dental patients have been told they will have to wait 15 months for complex treatment.

Martin Eldridge thought it was a joke or a mistake when he got an appointment for June 2011.

No such luck. Astonishingly, that is the waiting period for people like Mr Eldridge who require complex dental surgery.

It is yet another black mark against NHS Oxfordshire, the county’s primary care trust, and its provision of health services for us all.

It has faced controversy over postcode lotteries for dying cancer patients and childless couples.

It is fair that dentistry of this kind is hardly life or death – and the PCT says the backlog is because there are only two people qualified to perform the surgery.

But if that is the case, the PCT is failing in its duty.

There are 183 people in this county alone who need treatment and the waiting list stretches for the next 16 months. Surely this should have been addressed long before now.

The PCT’s case is hardly helped by its mysterious ability to fast-track Mr Eldridge’s treatment hours after being contacted by the Oxford Mail.

Either its treatment schedule was full until June next year for Mr Eldridge or it was not.