White Socks And Sandals – The Budget And Dentistry, In Full
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- Published: Thursday, 28 October 2021 07:35
- Written by Chris Tapper
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There was fantastic news for dentists in the budget yesterday…actually…we’re kidding…there wasn’t.
Sorry.
In fact, there was hardly ANY mention of dentistry at all in Rishi Sunak’s much-anticipated Autumn Budget and Spending Review.
We feel like we should buy you all a chocolaty treat after cruelly building you up and then pulling the carpet from underneath you.
In fairness, the Chancellor’s budget did refer to dentists once, dental care professionals once, dental technicians once and dental prostheses TWICE.
Unfortunately, all the dental references were crammed into one underwhelming paragraph.
And here goes…
“5.64 VAT: Exemption for dental prostheses imports – The government will extend the current VAT exemption for dental prostheses supplied by registered dentists and other dental care professionals or dental technicians to imports of dental prostheses by these persons. This will ensure the VAT treatment for such prostheses supplied into and within the United Kingdom, including between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is consistent.”
For some inexplicable reason, the Treasury’s official document on the budget seemed to draw a distinction between dental care professionals and dental technicians.
Someone at the Treasury obviously hadn’t realised that dental technicians ARE dental care professionals.
We bet when Rishi gets wind of it, he will be foot-stampingly FURIOUS.
We’re sure his much-publicised pair of £95 Italian designer Palm Angels sliders (sandals to you and me) will stand up to political Morris dancing though.
Rishi Sunak’s pre-Budget pictures have dropped, including one of him wearing £95 sliders with socks pic.twitter.com/jatoWrXes0
— Eleanor Langford (@eleanormia) October 26, 2021
The white-socked Chancellor had already announced a few days before the budget was heard in the house, a further £5.9 billion in funding for the NHS to tackle the immediate backlog of those awaiting treatment, as part of the Autumn Budget.
But dentistry’s share of that is currently either unspecified, or as it seems more and more likely, zilch.
After the British Dental Association and Healthwatch England’s pointed and detailed plea in a joint letter to the Chancellor to recognise the challenges facing the dental service across England, the budget was yet another slap in the face for the ‘Cinderella’ service.
BDA News headlined “Budget leaves NHS dentistry in last chance saloon” yesterday, when Mr Sunak failed to provide “Vital funding for the recovery and rebuild of services.”
As GDPUK reported only yesterday, the BDA and Healthwatch initiative was backed by cross-party support from 40 MP’s.
The BDA said on the association’s news website” “Reform of the widely discredited model the service operates to was pledged by April 2022. Dentist leaders have expressed disbelief that no commitments have been made to provide the necessary resources to deal with the backlogs and underpin a transition to a new and sustainable model of care.”
“Over 35 million appointments have been lost in England since lockdown, and even before COVID funding was sufficient to cover barely half the population.”
“The 50% business rates discount extended to the retail and hospitality sectors once again leaves high street dentists as among the only businesses on the high street not receiving needed support.”
“The BDA had joined with public health leaders in early October for a reversal of savage cuts to local public health budgets. There are no indications the Treasury appears willing to change tack.”
British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch told BDA News "MPs have recognised NHS dentistry is in the last chance saloon.”
"Sadly, the Chancellor has offered this service no help clearing the backlogs, no support for the rebuild and recovery, and no boost for public health.”
"COVID busted an already failed system, but any reform plan is doomed without new investment.”
"Any credible ’levelling up’ agenda cannot ignore millions of patients with no hope of securing needed care."
Veteran dental commentator Michael Watson asked if ANY of the extra £5.9 billion planned to be given to NHS England to clear the backlog of treatments brought on by COVID will be earmarked for dentistry?
Michael said “If so, will it compensate for the tens of millions of pounds that NHS England claws back from dentistry and spends elsewhere in primary care?”
“If there are proposals, as in Suffolk, for contracts to be awarded to open seven days a week, when will they be awarded? (Suffolk says next July).”
“And where will they get dentists and staff prepared to work extended hours? Of course, this only applies to England but there are serious problems in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland.”
Michael also spoke about the lifting of the public services pay freeze.
“Before we raise the flags, this will be done by easing the shackles on the Review Body on Doctors and Dentists Remuneration (DDRB) and other pay review bodies.”
“So that excludes associates, and everyone working in the practice except the contract holder. What the associate gets is what the contract holder is prepared to pay. And the settlement is on net earnings so subject to haggling with DHSC over expenses.”
Michael felt the rise in the National Living Wage from £8.91 per hour to £9.50 was a double-edged sword.
“This could affect lower paid nurses, but will affect practice profitability,” said Michael.
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