What we do know is the delay in uplifts has now broken all records. And that already struggling practices cannot manage cash flow with promises.
On the National Insurance hike, hundreds of messages from members have landed with elected representatives. We are told something is coming, but if this is wrapped into next year’s pay awards, it could well take 12 months.
Get your elected representatives to speak up after the recent National Insurance hike in the Budget.
And on reform we’ve expressed our dismay that key pledges on NHS dentistry did not feature in the Prime Minister’s “Plan for Change”. While the rhetoric is all about a strategic focus on primary care, we only saw targets on waiting times in our hospitals. When some NHS dental practices are reporting waiting lists of up to 10 years this is simply remiss.
There is still no rollout on 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments in England. Parliament has been told plans for supervised brushing programmes in early years settings will be set out “in due course.” And critically formal negotiations to reform the discredited NHS dental contract fuelling the access and workforce crises in the service have yet to begin.
We need real progress here. NHS dentistry has effectively ceased to exist for new patients, with Office for National Statistics data showing 96% of new patients who attempted to secure NHS care were unsuccessful. Recent NHS England data indicated that as of March 2024 over a fifth of positions for NHS dentists were unfilled, with these vacancies amounting to nearly half a million days of lost NHS activity. Recent analysis by the Mirror estimates that up to 96% of dental practices in England are unable to take on new adult NHS patients.
Warm words won’t get millions the care they need
We’ve set out what needs to change in our response to the coming NHS 10 Year Plan. We’ve worked alongside partners from across primary care to show how government need to do more than talk about the front door of the NHS – they need to fix it. And we are continuing to keep the pressure up in parliament and in the press.
What we need to see from the Ministers is urgency and ambition. Early next year we will be joining our friends at 38 Degrees, the Women’s Institute and the Mirror to take a message backed by nearly a quarter of a million to Downing Street.
Rishi Sunak once pledged to “restore” NHS dentistry, Keir Starmer has promised to “fix” it.
Deeds need to match words. Sign our message to the PM.