FGDP(UK) to MPs: NHS dentistry is neglected, unviable and unattractive

Submitting evidence to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiry into dentistry services, the Faculty said that the NHS dental contract in England is “ill-conceived and not fit for purpose”, that its “crude and ineffective” payment system has “perverse incentives” which penalise practices which look after patients with greater need, and that many patients struggle to access NHS dental care as “the funding simply does not provide the universal offer they expect.”

In a wide-ranging response, FGDP says that as the amount of activity commissioned from each dental practice changes from year to year, practices are denied “the certainty needed to invest, recruit and train to meet future needs.” It also asserts that a combination of reduced commissioning, decreasing remuneration and the contractual restrictions on NHS work has led to many practices either closing or reducing their commitment to the NHS. The response calls for annual contractual clawback to be replaced with a multi-year cycle, and says the new NHS contract should also “include a significant element of capitation…re-introduce patient registration…and reward preventative activity, minimal-intervention dentistry and out-of-surgery visits to less mobile patients.”