NHS: Your concerns, questions and stories
What do the stats show?
For the 2024 General Election, the BBC has been running Your Voice, Your Vote, a chance for you to tell us what you care about most. Thousands of you have got in touch, with health one of the issues raised most often.
Our data team has dug into the stats behind your concerns and gathered expert analysis from correspondents across the BBC.
Are fewer children visiting dentists?
Hundreds of you told us that access to a dentist was a key issue.
Mandy, 58, from Dorset, said:
“It is an absolute disgrace that children are not able to see a dentist. If my husband or I need treatment it will cost us hundreds of pounds that we do not have. Bring back NHS dentists.”
Last year, a BBC investigation identified parts of England where the average wait for dental general anaesthetic treatment and tooth extraction was 18 months.
Tooth decay is “the most common reason for hospital admission in children aged between six and 10 years”, according to a February 2023 report by the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities.
NHS data provides estimates of how many children in England go to the dentist each year. We found a drop over the last five.
Across England, 53% of children visited a dentist in the year to June 2023, down from 58% in June 2019.
Breckland, in Norfolk, had the lowest figures in England. In the year to June 2023, just 14% of children visited the dentist in this area.
Nikki Fox, the BBC's health correspondent for the East of England, said teachers in Norfolk have told her children had to go to A&E to get milk teeth removed.
“Dentists have told me some children hadn’t seen a toothbrush at the age of six. Families are often told to ring 111 if they need urgent dental treatment, then when they ring the dental surgeries that are suggested by 111, there are no appointments left.”
And she states that millions of pounds in NHS dental budgets go unspent because “they can't get dentists to take on NHS patients under the current contract”.
Dominic Hughes, the BBC's health and wellbeing correspondent, agreed that the NHS contract is a “key issue”.
“Dentists argue the way the contract is structured means it is not worth their while taking on NHS patients – and they have been walking away from NHS work in droves. They say that it needs fundamental reform.
“Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens have promised – more or less – that is what they would do. Reform’s manifesto does not specifically mention dentistry.
"The Conservatives launched a Dental Recovery Plan earlier this year which promises to unlock 2.5 million more NHS appointments and have offered further reforms to the contract. But the dentists’ union, the British Dental Association, says that doesn’t go far enough."
What is happening with NHS waiting lists?
Dozens of you raised concerns about waits in the NHS, whether that be for A&E, key diagnoses, therapy or other services.
As reported earlier this month, NHS data shows the number of people waiting for treatment in England peaked at 7.77 million in September 2023.
It had dropped to 7.54 million in March 2024. But, in April, it rose slightly to 7.57 million.
Dominic Hughes said party pledges on waiting lists have come thick and fast.
“The Conservatives want to build more hospitals, GP surgeries and community diagnostic centres.
“Labour says it will hit the 18-week NHS waiting target within five years for non-urgent health conditions.
“The Lib Dems offer improved access to GPs and have called for an emergency Health and Care Budget within four weeks of the election.
“Reform pledges an extra £17 billion a year for the NHS and suggests it will bring NHS waiting lists to zero in two years.
“The Greens promise a year-on-year reduction in waiting lists, backed by an extra £28bn for the NHS in England by 2030.”
Are NHS buildings coping?
Hundreds of you mentioned hospitals as a key issue for you at this election
Gene Hunt, 55, from Devon, told us that NHS buildings “are in a poor state”.
In February, the BBC’s Shared Data Unit (SDU) found, in the year ending March 2023, disrepair in NHS buildings led to thousands of potentially harmful incidents.
This included critically ill patients being moved when rainfall came through the ceiling, sewage leaks, floods and failing equipment.
Paul Lynch from the SDU said:
“Some health bosses said hospital trusts were struggling with 'crumbling' Victorian buildings, while others said they had to replace wards built using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) – which was deemed unsafe when a school beam collapsed in 2023.
“The bill to complete high-risk repairs needed at NHS acute hospitals had swollen to £2bn in the year ending March 2023, up by more than a third compared to the previous year.”
The government said "significant sums" had been invested to modernise the NHS.
But critics, including NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts in England, said more was needed and called for an increase in health service capital spending from £7.7bn to £14.1bn.
