The extra appointments would translate into every NHS dentist in England seeing little over two extra urgent cases a month. Based on this Government’s own data, total unmet need for NHS dental care in England amounts to 13 million, or one in four of the adult population.
Lord Darzi concluded in his ‘diagnosis’ of the crisis in the NHS that: "If dentistry is to continue as a core NHS service, urgent action is needed to develop a contract that balances activity and prevention, is attractive to dentists and rewards those dentists who practise in less served areas.”
We’ve expressed concern that Integrated Care Boards have been offered no national framework for delivering these 700,000 appointments. Last summer we proposed a tried-and-tested model of sessional payments, that has already significantly improved access to urgent care in the North East.
“It’s progress, but Government could have fired the starting gun on commissioning urgent care last summer,” said General Dental Practice Committee Chair Shiv Pabary.
“Action here will translate into just two extra slots a month for each NHS dentist.
“Ministers must now confront the failed contract that’s left millions with no options.”
Despite having pledged new investment in the Labour manifesto, delivery here is to be paid for using underspends in the dental budget, that we know are fuelled by underfunding and workforce problems.
We’ve already spelled out how record-breaking underspends do not reflect of any lack of demand but are the net result of a generation of systemic underfunding driven by the Treasury. A typical practice now loses over £40 delivering a set of NHS dentures.
The total cross subsidy from private care to loss-making NHS activity is estimated at £332m a year - set to rise to £425m when significant increases in overheads from the Autumn Budget kick in come April.
“Promised new money has gone. Instead, budget that should be funding routine care is being recycled” Shiv Pabary added.
“What’s clear to us is the Treasury are banking on the crisis in dentistry not being solved in this Parliament.”
700,000 urgent appointments coming. Now restore care to millions
With commissioning finally set to begin on the Labour Government’s pledge of 700,000 new NHS urgent dental care appointments, we’ve stressed progress is now urgently required on promises to reform the broken contract fuelling the access crisis millions still face.