NHS Dental Reforms Have Cross-Party Support, But Where Does The New Health Minister Stand?
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- Published: Thursday, 27 October 2022 07:40
- Written by Chris Tapper
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The new Minister for Health and Social Care has told the Commons “The Government is taking a number of important steps that will improve dental access for patients and will make NHS dentistry more and more attractive place for dentists and their teams to work” during Thursday’s Parliamentary debate on NHS dentistry.”
Will Quince told the House “These changes include improvements to the current NHS dental contracts.”
He promised “I’ll come on to that in a moment.” But of course, he never did.
Instead, the new Minister trotted out the old “We made 50 million pounds extra funding available for NHS dental services at the end of 21 – 22, which provided more appointments and to increase capacity in NHS dental teams.”
And rather than tell well-informed MPs taking part in the debate about new proposals for NHS dental contract reform, Mr Quince merely reiterated that the Government had announced a ‘package of improvements to the NHS dental system’ on 19th July.
The Minister said “These are an important first step to system reform and designed to improve access to dental care for patients, and in particular, patients with the most complex treatment needs.”
But Mr Quince did bravely pile headlong into the thorny subject raised by MPs from both sides of the House – namely, the 2006 UDA-based dental contract.
After pointing out the absurdity of dentists getting paid the same whether they provide one or six fillings, the Minister proudly highlighted that the Government had set a £23 minimum UDA value – though that was back in July.
Earlier in the debate, initiated by MPs Peter Aldous and Judith Cummins, dentist and MP Sir Paul Beresford summed up the absurdity of the current contract by calling its basis as a “Semi mythological coinage called a Unit of Dental Activity. It’s a mythical thing.”
The Minister was keen though, on ensuring money clawed back from underperforming practices should go back into dentistry, via practices that could do more.
But as part of that deal, Mr Quince said he expected more ‘transparency’ – and that means that it will be a requirement for NHS dentists to update their information on the NHS website, “So you can see dentists that are accepting new NHS patients for treatment.”
The Minister also took the opportunity to ‘bust the myth about being registered with a dentist.’ He told MPs of the advantages of being able to register with any NHS dentist for a course of treatment.
Outlining the freedoms associated with no registration, Mr Quince told fellow MPs “But actually the reality is anyone can book an appointment with any dentist with an NHS contract, regardless of where they live anywhere in the country.”
And I think it’s important we do get that message out because when people, our constituents say to us, ‘I can’t get a dentist locally,’ we need to make sure that they know they could travel to a neighbouring town, neighbouring city. They could travel halfway across the country if they wanted to, because they had relatives there.”
Despite the Minister’s contribution to the debate, MPs had a good and comprehensive understanding of the difficulties dentists face under the current NHS contract. Support for NHS dentistry came from all parties.
After the debate, the British Dental Association headlined on the BDA News website “MPs back reform, but government yet to wake up.”
“The British Dental Association has greeted the show of unity from MPs today on fixing the broken NHS dental service but lamented the government’s failure to commit to meaningful reform,” the website said.
“Members backed a cross-party motion calling on government to set out an action plan to address the access and workforce crises in NHS dentistry, and to report back to the House on progress in three months.”
“The government failed to outline any meaningful steps to bring the service back from the brink, simply revisiting minor ’tweaks’ to the discredited NHS contract announced before the summer recess, which had no new funding attached. The BDA believe these marginal changes – most of which are yet to take effect - will do nothing to improve access or halt the exodus of dentists from the NHS.”
Dr Shawn Charlwood, Chair of the British Dental Association’s General Dental Practice Committee told BDA News "MPs on both sides of the House have recognised the urgency here, but the government has yet to wake up.”
"Quick fixes and tinkering at the margins won’t save NHS dentistry. Our patients need to see fair funding and real reform. Any further cuts will condemn this service to oblivion."
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