In response to an Urgent Question this morning, there was no tangible detail given on how providers including high street dentists, GPs and pharmacists – who largely operate as small businesses – will be supported, following the increases in wage bills signposted at the recent Budget.
Health Minister Karin Smyth MP stressed the Government “understands the pressures” facing providers that will be affected by the rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions, and that “there are well established processes for agreeing funding allocations across the system, we are going through those processes now with this issue in mind.” The BDA stress providers need immediate clarity on the shape and timing of any support to enable simple business planning.
The professional body has already called on the Treasury to extend the same relief from NI offered to secondary care providers.
British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch said:
“Primary care colleagues still have no sense whether this government will cover this huge hike in costs.
“These vital services are delivered largely by small businesses, and ambiguity here puts patient care at risk.
“This isn’t ‘fixing the foundations’. It means pushing already struggling practices further to the brink.”