Petition · past parliament

Resume primary healthcare immediately.

Rejected 14 signatures

What the petition asks

I am in need of urgent dental care. I am now on my second course of antibiotic in 5 weeks. My dentist tells me he has been forbidden by the government to open his surgery. A&E cannot/will not take any action to deal with the cause. Their only option is to offer more antibiotics and painkillers.
Many people are suffering extreme pain and are in need of treatment. A&E departments do not consider many of these treatments life threatening. For extreme pain caused by toothache is unbearable, and left untreated abscesses can be life threatening.
Continued prescribing of antibiotics and analgesics for infections is not a solution and can also be dangerous

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

The Government has not required dental practices to close, and decisions about restrictions to services are a matter the NHS and individual NHS trusts and dentists, not the Government or House of Commons.

Details of how to seek urgent dental treatment are available on the NHS's website: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/

Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/

Timeline

9 May 2020 Petition opened for signatures
21 May 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 14
Status Rejected
Rejected 21 May 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.