NHS Plays April Fool With English Dental Contractors
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- Published: Sunday, 03 April 2022 07:34
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Once again NHS England have been caught out by the completely unpredictable arrival of the month of April.
This year the combination of April coming after March, February and January, as well as March having 31 days, has proved too much for the Department [DHSC]. It may be the best explanation for dentists still having no confirmation of how their NHS contracts will work in the coming hours. Practices face some pressing questions. Will they be expected to deliver 100% of UDA targets? Will the ‘so complicated it is impossible to claim’ system to compensate some exceptional challenges, remain? Will the contract changes in 2022 that the CDO teasingly alluded to at Dental Showcase, actually appear in 2022? It would be unreasonable of GDP’s to want to know just what those changes might be, or how they will impact on practice viability and workforce.
Experienced practice teams will be shocked by none of this. Every year it is the same, with patient charges information arriving at the last minute and any supporting material not appearing until a few days after the new arrangements are in place. The arrival of the pandemic has now given the authorities an opportunity to gaslight dental teams on a quarterly rather than an annual basis.
The BDA are used to this too, at 8.36am on the 31st they posted, “With less than 24 hours to go colleagues in England still have no clarity on NHS contractual arrangements for the start of the 2022/23 financial year. While NHS England has widely signalled intentions to return to 100% of pre-COVID activity, we have continued to press for a reality check, given the huge challenges practices have faced in this quarter. These delays are an insult to thousands of dedicated providers. We are chasing for details and will update members as soon as we can.”
Welsh colleagues, who have had the luxury of a few days advance warning to decide if they wish to opt into a modified NHS contract, will be delighted to see that the BDA have managed to get suitable associate contracts ready. These were announced at 11.36 on March 31st for a contract that starts with the first patient the next day. That is not to criticise the BDA, given the time available, but it means that practices remaining open is reliant upon good faith between principals and associates. The annual, now quarterly, scramble also puts great pressure on software providers who are expected to work miracles, with vital information from the NHS arriving at the last minute.
All of this uncertainty, disruption and stress is entirely avoidable. Dental teams will know this and so do NHS officials. Despite this, the dental Groundhog day keeps on happening. It is hard not to conclude that the Department of Health and NHS authorities are trying to tell their contractors something.
Update: On the evening of the 31st March after most practices had closed, NHS England told the BDA that details on contractual arrangements are still being finalised and will come “as soon as possible.”
The BDA have observed that dentists will go into work tomorrow “not knowing what is expected of them.” That is not correct. NHS Dentists will know that, yet again, they are expected to ‘suck it up.’
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