Oral health: Ever increasing pressures

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Sir, we read with interest the letter entitled Oral health: Dental neglect on wards (2017; 223: 238).

From our experience of oral health care of medical patients over the last 15 years, we would concur with the authors' main points that oral health is commonly neglected or not prioritised in an inpatient population. However, most clinicians working within busy NHS hospitals would agree that the neglect of oral health is not an isolated problem; it is simply part of the ever increasing pressures on clinical staff.¹

The demand for hospital inpatients has only increased over the last 10 to 15 years.² With associated decreases in nursing and medical staff, inpatient care often feels as if it is buckling under the strain. It can be difficult to identify the healthcare professional looking after a particular ward patient and this may change regularly over a working day. It is not uncommon, on busy medical and surgical wards, to find basic inpatient requirements are not carried out in a timely fashion – such as routine observations, fluid management and mobility assessments.

We agree that oral healthcare is vital and particularly in older patients for the reasons the author commented on. However, if these trends continue, the importance of oral healthcare will simply fall by the wayside as the daily demands on healthcare professionals ever increases.