A GREEN councillor in Bath has rejected accusations she jumped the queue for an NHS dentist by mentioning she was a councillor.

Joanna Wright (Lambridge), who leads the Green group on Bath and North East Somerset Council, told a council debate on dental services that she had been dropped by her NHS dentist because she had been unable to see them within two years during Covid.

When she complained, as a councillor, that the system was unfair, she said that she and all her family reinstated.

The Liberal Democrats, who run the council, accused Cllr Wright of “jumping the queue because she named dropped being a councillor.”

A video clip of her comments, posted on Facebook by the council’s Liberal Democrat group, has been viewed 65,000 times.

But Cllr Wright says she was not using her position to gain access but trying to point out how unfairly people were being treated.

The Green group tabled a motion for the council to urge the government to reform the system of NHS dentists at a full council meeting on July 16.

Bath and North East Somerset has been considered a “dental desert” due to the lack of NHS dentists taking on patients. The motion was seconded by the Liberal Democrats and passed unanimously.

During her speech, Cllr Wright told the council she had lost her space with her NHS dentist during Covid as she had not been able to get an appointment.

She said: “I complained about this and I was told there was no way to get back on to that NHS dentist roll. I then declared I was a councillor and weirdly they put me and all of my family back on to being an NHS dentist.

“It is the only time that is has been useful to be a councillor. It has probably saved me and my family a huge amount of money.”

Liberal Democrat council leader Kevin Guy (Bathavon North) said after the meeting: “I was surprised to hear councillor Wright say in full council that the ‘only time it was useful to be a councillor’ was when she managed to get herself and her family on a NHS closed dentist’s list by mentioning her elected member role.

He added: “It’s extremely important to highlight the need for more NHS dentists in our area and I’m sure the leader of the Green Party did not mean to take advantage of her elected status.”

Cllr Wright added: “It seems a shame to me that the Lib Dems focused on this aspect of my speech, rather than the wider issue of replacement of the UDA [unit of dental activity] system which is crippling NHS dentists. The motion passed unanimously,” she added.

Ms Wright was originally elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor in 2019 but left to become the council’s only Green councillor in 2021, after Mr Guy became Liberal Democrat group leader.

She was re-elected as a Green at the 2023 local elections, alongside two new Green councillors who form the Green group she now leads.