BDA claim NHS dentistry facing imminent recruitment crisis

Survey evidence suggests over two thirds (68 per cent) of NHS practices in England who attempted to recruit in the last year struggled to fill vacancies. Half (50 per cent) of the NHS practices who attempted recruitment reported issues in the previous year. 

These figures reflect widespread disillusionment with England’s unreformed NHS dental system, with levels of NHS commitment now a leading driver of low morale and motivation. Those with the highest levels of NHS work (over 75 per cent NHS work as opposed to private) appeared more than twice as likely (39 per cent) to report job dissatisfaction than those with lighter commitments (16 per cent).

In the latest sign of emerging crisis Plymouth’s director of Public Health, was instructed by councillors to write to NHS England requesting, “urgent local action to improve access to NHS dentists” amid 9,000 long waiting lists fuelled by staff shortages and patients facing a 70 mile journey for treatment. Recent reports from both the Times and BBC have highlighted access problems across England, with half of practices across England unable to take new NHS patients.