A national survey of dentists in England showed:
- Just three per cent think the plan will result in their practice seeing more NHS patients. Forty-three per cent believe the plan will actually lead to their practice seeing fewer NHS patients.
- Only one per cent of respondents believe the plan is capable of meeting the government’s stated objective to provide NHS dental care to ‘all who need it’. A mere three per cent say it will keep them providing NHS care long term.
- Four per cent believe it is ambitious enough to meet the scale of the current crisis – the same proportion who say the level of investment is sufficient to make NHS dentistry sustainable going forward.
- Only 41 per cent of practices say they are operating at pre-COVID levels of capacity. Sixty-two per cent cite higher needs patients requiring more clinical time as a factor constraining their practice, reflecting the huge backlogs generated by ongoing access problems.
The BDA will give evidence to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee on March 19, 2024. It is demanding that the government disclose the modelling underpinning the claim the ‘Recovery Plan’ will generate 2.5m new appointments.
The professional body understands that the £200m funding plan will be covered by less than half the estimated £450m underspend from practices. Taken together with recent hikes inpatient charges, the BDA says this represents further cuts with higher charge levels being utilised as a substitute for state investment.
The association says there is a realistic prospect the plan will reduce access. A higher minimum Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) value is being paid for by dentists being allowed to deliver fewer UDAs overall. The New Patient Premium will be paid out of existing contract values, meaning that for a practice working at full capacity, seeing more new patients will, by definition, translate into fewer NHS patients they can see overall.
The BDA stressed that the Health Committee had set out an instruction manual to save the service in its report in 2023. The first step – a decisive break from the failed NHS dental contract and a move to a person-centred, prevention-focused model of care – has been rejected by the government, following what the BDA believes is Treasury pressure.
Over 200,000 people have signed a joint BDA, 38 Degrees and Daily Mirror petition calling on the prime minister to deliver real change in dentistry. In his first run for the leadership, Rishi Sunak pledged to ‘restore’ NHS dentistry. Dentist leaders stress nothing in the plan is capable of delivering on that promise, and are taking the message in adverts to Whitehall and online, slamming horrific scenes of DIY dentistry and cases of life-threatening dental sepsis that have no place in a wealthy 21st century nation.
Shawn Charlwood, chair of the British Dental Association’s General Dental Practice Committee, who will be giving oral evidence to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee said, “Checkups are hard to come by, but it will prove much harder for Ministers to find a dentist who backs their outlandish claims.
“This profession has seen through the spin. Empty sound bites won’t stop queues outside practices, and dodgy statistics won’t call time on ‘DIY’ dentistry.
“Bringing dentistry back into the 21st century requires real commitment, which is frankly in short supply.”