Catch up with all the news across the county with Cameron Tucker.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV.
00:27I'm Cameron Tucker and here are your top stories on Wednesday the 4th of December.
00:32Investigation launched. Teenager arrested after huge fire on Canterbury's historic
00:37high street.
00:38What could have been an absolute catastrophe at our city centre in such old buildings which
00:44is difficult to fight fires in.
00:47Drilling down on dentists calls for government to fill in the gap as 70% of Medway doesn't
00:52see a dentist.
00:54Less and less dentists are available as a workforce. It's nationally but especially
00:59in Kent.
01:00And where do you come from? We asked Bromley residents whether they consider themselves
01:05Kentish on Derby day.
01:07Not in Kent.
01:08So we got one for and one against. Thank you very much. It's a very, very divided opinion
01:13here in Bromley today. Thank you very much.
01:24But first tonight, two teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of arson following a
01:28fire in Canterbury that left dozens of people displaced and shut the high street.
01:33Eight fire engines and 50 firefighters worked to stop it spreading to old and historical
01:38buildings nearby.
01:40The fire service and officers were still at the scene today with Kent police saying two
01:4415-year-old boys remain in custody while they investigate.
01:48Here's Abbey Hook with more details.
01:51The scene in Canterbury days after a fire in the high street.
01:56At the height of the incident, eight fire engines, two height vehicles and 50 firefighters
02:01were at the derelict department store.
02:03But still, we don't know what caused the fire in what used to be a Debenhams.
02:10Kent police have said a 15-year-old boy from the local area attended Canterbury police
02:15station and was arrested shortly afterwards on suspicion of arson.
02:20And today, another 15-year-old boy, but from Ashford, was arrested in connection with the
02:25incident and remains in custody.
02:28Businesses were closed and the high street cordoned off on Tuesday but now some can reopen.
02:34Two fire engines and a height vehicle are still on the scene and as this incident was
02:39so close to one of the city's, county's and country's key historical landmarks, there
02:45were concerns the fire would spread.
02:48We love our city centre, it's important to us, but I want to say now I'm incredibly grateful
02:55to the work and efforts of the Kent Fire and Rescue, they've been amazing in stopping what
03:00could have been an absolute catastrophe with our city centre in such old buildings which
03:06are difficult to fight fires in.
03:09We thank them from the bottom of my heart.
03:12We have to remember a city centre is a home for many, many people too.
03:16More than 20 people were displaced, temporarily moved out of their homes above the shops in
03:21the high street and put up in hotels by the council.
03:24Kent Fire and Rescue Service have said that due to the complexity of the incident, crews
03:29are not yet able to access the site but a full investigation with partner agencies will
03:34take place when this is possible.
03:38Abbey Hook for KMTV in Canterbury.
03:42More than 70% of people in Medway don't have a dentist, that's according to data from the
03:47Office for National Statistics.
03:49One dentist in Gillingham puts these figures down to there being not enough new practices
03:54opening and dentists moving into the private sector.
03:57Our reporter Nia Price has been finding out why Medway has the lowest dentist registration
04:02in the entire south east.
04:06More than a thousand patients on the waiting list for this dentist in Gillingham.
04:10So why do so many not have a dentist?
04:13Since the pandemic, less and less dentists are available as a workforce.
04:19It's nationally but especially in Kent, we have noticed that the number of dentists have
04:25either retired or have moved just into the private sector.
04:35We have a lower number of dentists that they want to locate into Kent.
04:40The majority of dentists they want to work into London.
04:44We are working hard on it.
04:46We actually have the workforce but they are at this point in time just registered as therapists.
04:53They are overseas qualified dentists but it takes a long process for the GDC to acknowledge
04:57their registration.
04:58There's two exams that can take up to 18 months for those exams to be completed for them to
05:04be acknowledged and be able to work as a dentist.
05:07One in seven people in Kent and Medway don't have a dentist, which is the highest rate
05:11across the south east of England.
05:14That's also higher than the average of one in eight across the whole of England.
05:18This is shown by recent figures released from the Office for National Statistics Health
05:22Insights survey.
05:23I came to the high streets in Rochester and Maidstone to find out how hard people are
05:28finding it to access a dentist.
05:29I've had the same one most of my life but when I couldn't get an appointment to be a
05:33dentist I tried going elsewhere and found it very, very difficult.
05:36At the moment it's been quite hard because they are switching from NHS to private so
05:42obviously I'm through the NHS so they've been putting them back and prioritising the private
05:50patients.
05:51I've never used a dentist yet, I've been struggling to find one.
05:56It's pretty good, I've had two cancellations just recently because she's doing something
06:02else so I've had to cancel it and re-book my appointment but it's quite easy to get
06:08an appointment.
06:09Thank you so much for joining me.
06:11No problem.
06:12I spoke to councillor Theresa Murray to hear about what Medway Council are doing about
06:17the issue.
06:18We have talked about, well could we get a school of dentistry as part of one of our
06:24universities because we haven't got that on our local campus.
06:29I think it's about working individually with our dentists and seeing how things are going
06:34so I have spoken directly to some practices about this and as I say some are still taking
06:40NHS patients so one of the things that we can do through our public health team is to
06:48signpost people to dentists that we know are still taking NHS patients.
06:52The Department for Health and Social Care said in a statement it's unacceptable that
06:56people are struggling to find a dentist.
06:59They are committed to rebuilding the sector and say they'll start with an extra 700,000
07:03urgent appointments and will reform the dental contract to make it more appealing to dentists.
07:11Nia Price for KMTV.
07:15And to talk more about this story as well as the latest health headlines I'm joined
07:19by our resident health expert Dr Julian Spinks.
07:28So Julian we were talking about a similar story last week.
07:31The situation here in Medway, are you seeing a lot of doctors having to fill in gaps that
07:36dentists would otherwise have been filling?
07:39Well we do get people coming to us or contacting us to see if we can do something and of course
07:43there's very limited things we can do.
07:46It's typically people who have got a dental abscess, a fat face and so on but the primary
07:51treatment of that is surgical.
07:52It's actually draining things and so asking for antibiotics often we'll say we can't do it.
07:57We're not dentally trained and certainly I can't get my Black & Decker out.
08:0070% a huge amount I'm sure we're going to come back to that story but I just want to
08:04go back to a story from last week.
08:06The end of last week obviously the assisted dying bill grabbing a lot of the headlines
08:12voted on by MPs.
08:13It's gone through to its next reading.
08:15What's been the response generally from those doctors and medical professionals?
08:21Well the last time they were surveyed by the BMA it was about 50% of doctors were in favour
08:26and it's interesting because if you're then asked do you want to actively take part in
08:30it actually there's a majority who don't and so there's really two big things for doctors.
08:34The first is the practicality of being able to say someone's got less than six months
08:38to live.
08:39That's a very difficult thing to do and we moved away from that definition for things
08:43like benefits to 12 months.
08:45The other one is whether we can actually make sure that people who do have a conscientious
08:49objection who don't want to take part can genuinely step away from that without actually
08:55impeding the person's ability to still be able to have that option.
08:59And the percentages are really interesting, like you said it's really hard to pinpoint
09:02like how long is left.
09:03I know like at the start of life it's you know 3% of babies are actually born on their
09:08due date.
09:09What's that kind of like with predicting the accuracy of how long somebody's got left to
09:13live?
09:14Is that accuracy that low as well?
09:16It isn't that good.
09:18You can say years, you can say sort of months and you can say weeks or days but narrowing
09:25it down as to whether it's five months, six months, seven months, eight months and so
09:29on actually is not practical.
09:31And I've been caught out, I've said to people that they have a few months to live and they've
09:35lived years.
09:36The other way round I've said well you know this is early stages and then suddenly they
09:39decline and die.
09:41So it's not going to be a precise thing.
09:43I don't think it's an argument against the bill but at the same time it is something
09:47that needs to be worked out in Parliament so that we've got a bill that really works.
09:51Yeah absolutely, plenty more to unpick on that I'm sure.
09:55Julian, thank you very much as ever for coming in.
09:57And finally, straight after Kent tonight, the team behind KMTV's sports show Invicta
10:01Sport will be taking over the usual special slot to preview first for Kent football.
10:07Gillingham are taking on Bromley for the first time in League Two in what has contentiously
10:12been named the Kent Derby.
10:14With the south London town technically no longer part of the county, Bartholomew Hall
10:18has been taken to the streets of Bromley to find out if residents there consider themselves
10:22Kentish or not.
10:25The later today, hundreds of Gillingham fans will be making the trip down to Bromley for
10:28the match but does it really count as a Kent Derby?
10:31Is Bromley in Kent?
10:32Well we're here in the high street to ask exactly that today.
10:38We're just asking if you think Bromley is in Kent or not?
10:53Hello there, we're asking do you think Bromley is in Kent or not in Kent?
11:04We're just asking if you think Bromley is in Kent or not in Kent?
11:07I know it's in Kent.
11:08It's definitely in Kent, do you think?
11:09Certainly.
11:10It's not in Kent.
11:11So we've got one for and one against, thank you very much.
11:15It's a very, very divided opinion here in Bromley today.
11:18Thank you very much.
11:19It's in Kent today.
11:20Thank you very much.
11:21There you go, the long debate there is about Bromley being in Kent.
11:27Well that's all the time we've got for Kent tonight.
11:29Stick around for the special programme that Bartholomew Hall and his team have been putting
11:34together looking at the Gilles Bromley fixture.
11:36Kick off for that.
11:37That number is at 7.45.
11:38We'll have the full report of that fixture tomorrow on Kent Tonight.
11:42But for now, that's it from me here.
11:43Have a very good evening and we'll see you tomorrow.
11:45Goodbye.