BDA tells the Review Body the facts about NHS dentists’ pay
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- Published: Wednesday, 11 March 2020 07:33
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The BDA has given evidence in person to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB), based on members’ views who were asked to provide the evidence on pay and morale. Eddie Crouch and his team stressed dentists’ recruitment crisis, low morale, access problems for patients, delays in paying the DDRB award and below inflation pay increases leading to under-funding of NHS dentistry.
The recruitment crisis isn’t going anywhere
Responses from members across the UK shows the sustainability of NHS services remains on a knife-edge. Over 66% of practice owners in England reported difficulties filling vacancies. It’s the same story in Community Dental Services, where evidence now shows half think their service is understaffed.
More NHS still equals lower morale
The Health Secretary recently expressed his pleasure at NHS staff survey findings on ‘across the board’ improvements in morale. However, those figures leave out NHS GDPs entirely and disguise the deep challenges facing CDS, 80% of whom are facing burnout, with two-thirds doing unpaid overtime. Over half our GDP respondents have had their fill of targets and a decade of pay cuts.
Morale remains lowest, where NHS commitment is highest and where vacancies are hardest to fill. Wherever push factors outweigh the pull factors you will find professionals planning their exit strategies. We’ve been clear it is the duty of our pay review body not to give any more reasons to colleagues to reduce their NHS commitment, retire early or to leave this profession entirely.
Patients are seeing the results
Wherever these vacancies go unfilled there are the patients that go untreated. The government’s own data shows over 4 million adults in England are missing out on the care they need. We’ve found a similar picture in Wales, with families facing over 100-mile round trips for services. Failure on pay is being felt by families across the UK. Governments like to talk about ‘record-breaking’ numbers of dentists, comforting themselves by counting heads, not NHS commitment.
Prepare for another IOU
It has taken months for past recommendations on uplifts to translate into pay increases, and often more than a year in Northern Ireland where the 2019/20 award has only just been approved.
In England and Wales, delays mean uplifts on contract values come inexcusably late into the financial year. This leaves practices struggling to provide back pay to dentists who have moved on, including FDs who leave at the start of August.
It’s time for consistency
You don’t need to be an economist to appreciate an uplift the wrong side of inflation amounts to a pay cut. Pay restraint has hammered every part of this the service for a decade, with falls with no parallel in the UK public sector. We have made our case for uplifts the right side of inflation. If the DDRB wants NHS dentistry to have a future, it has a responsibility to use its independence and offer realistic recommendations. This is, in our view, a 5% uplift.
Our GP colleagues are benefiting from extra resources and are seeing an expansion of tried and tested policies to aid recruitment in communities struggling with access. The same logic must be applied to dentistry. The reintroduction of commitment payments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland alongside a decent pay award represents a bare minimum to show the next generation that a future in the NHS can offer recognition and reward.
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