Oral surgery wait times in NHS secondary dental care in England: a five-year review

Aims To report the oral surgery referral to treatment waiting times in hospitals in England and to identify any trends in the percentage of patients seen within 18 weeks. Materials and methods Data published by the NHS statistics team was analysed from 2016-2020. Results Pre-COVID-19, the best performing month was February 2016, with 91.5% of patients seen within 18 weeks. The worst performing month was September 2019, with 79.3% of patients seen within 18 weeks. Oral surgery was the worst performing speciality for 8% of months (4/50). Post-COVID-19, oral surgery was the worst performing speciality for 70% of months (7/10). In July 2020, the percentage of patients seen within 18 weeks of an oral surgery referral dropped to 24%. Discussion Over the last five years, there has been a steady decline in the number of patients who have been seen within 18 weeks of their oral surgery referral. There has also been an increase in oral surgery referrals to secondary care which needs to be addressed. Conclusion Improvements to undergraduate and postgraduate training, combined with enhanced commissioning of primary care services, is required.