Select Committee Dental Report Published - and it is damning
- Details
- Published: Friday, 14 July 2023 11:02
- Written by Guy Tuggle
- Hits: 1901
After months of hearing evidence and collating its thoughts, the House of Commons Health & Social Care Committee Report into NHS Dentistry is out.
It speaks of the many, many thousands of people unable to see an NHS dentist across vast swathes of the land. Of people driving hundreds of miles to see an NHS dentist. And others resorting to pulling their own teeth, so unbearable is their pain. It’s an image positively Dickensian in its brutality.
‘As a result of not being able to access an NHS dentist, some people have teeth crumbling in their mouth and are in severe physical and mental pain, and begging for morphine’ the report said. It’s an image positively Dickensian in its brutality.
"Rarely has an inquiry been more necessary than this one," said MP Steve Brine, chair of the cross-party committee which wrote the report.
"Today we register in the strongest terms possible our concern for the future of NHS dental services and the patients who desperately need access to them” Mr Brine added.
The NHS dental contract of 2006, deemed ‘unfit’ by 2008 yet still in use today - with only minor tweaks made last year - is singled out for special criticism and blame.
About one thing the Report is adamant: ‘Fundamental reform of the dental contract is essential and must be urgently implemented, not only to address the crisis of access in the short-term, but to ensure a more sustainable, equitable and prevention-focussed system for the future.’
And in a paragraph that will spark a mass chorus of ‘Hallelujah!’ from the profession, the Report says ‘The Department and NHS England must urgently implement a fundamentally reformed dental contract, characterised by a move away from the current UDA system, in favour of a system with a weighted capitation element, which emphasises prevention and person-centred care.
‘This’ the Report continues, ‘should be based on the learnings from the Dental Contract Reform Programme and in full consultation with the dental profession.’
Other recommendations include
- access for everyone, everywhere, to be at the heart of the government’s Dental Recovery Plan. ‘Once the plan has been published, we will revisit the recommendations in this report to assess it against this criteria’ it says.
- ‘We believe patient registration under a reformed capitation-based contract will better enable those patients who currently can’t access a dentist to be able to do so.’
- There needs to be a public awareness campaign to educate the public with regard to how NHS dentistry works. ‘This should clarify common misconceptions, for example, about patient registration, recall periods, and NHS dental charges and exemptions.’
- Practices should cease striking patients off for not attending regularly. ‘People should not automatically be removed from dentists’ registers of NHS patients without good reason. This should be monitored by NHS England to ensure it is being carried out.’
- Recognising that reform takes time there needs to be focus on how to help people who can’t access an NHS dentist right now and are having to live with the consequences. In the short term, solutions include making greater use of mobile surgeries.
- Urgent measures to speed up the process for overseas dentists seeking work in the UK
- It gives a cautious welcome to the proposed ‘tie-in’ for new graduates but only after much consultation and as part of wider contract reform
- It supports the continuation of patient choice to access NHS or private dentistry but says they are ‘chalk and cheese’.
Workforce Data…
At one of its hearings, the Committee was shocked to learn from the GDC that the regulator held no data about how many dentists worked in the NHS nor how many hours or days they worked.
It is therefore proposed that there be a ‘dental workforce survey to understand how many full-time and part-time-equivalent dentists, dental nurses, therapists and hygienists are working in the NHS, and how much NHS and private activity they are undertaking, alongside demographic data such as age and location.’
Urgent Action Needed…
In words that could have been copied and pasted from countless statements by the BDA’s Eddie Crouch and Shawn Charlwood ‘Any contract reform now will almost certainly be too late for those dentists who have already left the NHS or are considering doing so in the near future. The Government must urgently introduce incentives to attract and retain dentists to undertake NHS work.
These should include, but not be limited to, the reintroduction of NHS commitment payments, incentive payments for audit and peer review, and the introduction of late career retention payments.’
Ominously, the Report’s authors are not convinced, despite all the evidence, that the government (the Treasury?) has fully grasped the urgency of contract reform.
‘We are concerned that the absence of explicit mention of the dental contract in the Long Term Workforce Plan reflects the lack of priority given by the Government and NHS England to contract reform. We believe it indicates a lack of recognition of the urgent need for reform before any other workforce initiatives can be implemented.
The Report tells the profession little it did not already know or ask for. Whether its recommendations are ‘too little, too late’ or the first green shoots of a better future for NHS dentistry as a valued and respected part of the nation’s health service, will become apparent over the coming weeks and months.
Over the coming days, GDPUK will look behind the Report’s headlines and invites readers to share their thoughts and insights on its forum.
The full report can be read by clicking on this link
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40901/documents/199172/default/
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Report