Dental Activity Running 15% Below Pre-Pandemic Volumes
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- Published: Thursday, 13 June 2024 09:46
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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An authoritative and comprehensive new report by the House of Commons Library entitled NHS Dentistry in England provides a revealing ’snapshot’ of the state of England’s broken dental service.
Figures confirm that the volume of dental activity delivered in 2022/3 was 15% below the pre-pandemic figure. 32.5 millions courses of treatment were delivered in 2022/3 compared to 38.4 million in 2019/20.
Among the report’s key disclosures are:
- Real-terms funding for dental services (accounting for inflation) has fallen by 19% (in 2022/23 prices) since 2010/11, from £3.56 billion in 2010/11 to £2.90 billion in 2022/23 (Commons Library estimate)
- Patient charges accounted for 25% of total funding (2022/3)
- 40.7% of adults had seen an NHS dentist in the two years up to June 2023 (NHS England figure) - around a fifth lower than the proportion in September 2019 (50.9%)
- 52.7% of children had seen an NHS dentist within the recommended one year interval, down from the pre-pandemic figure of 57.9%
- 24,151 dentists each performed an unspecified amount of NHS activity. This represents a decrease of 121 on the previous year.
- There are widespread health inequalities, with certain demographic groups experiencing disproportionate difficulties accessing dental care.
Whilst some of the report’s figures are not new, the format of the House of Commons document has collated and woven dental statistics from various sources into one comprehensive ’state of dentistry’ document.
The 58 page briefing will make priority but disturbing reading for the army of new MPs taking their seats in the House of Commons after July’s general election. Wes Streeting, widely expected to be appointed Health Secretary if Labour wins, has promised to meet with representatives of the British Dental Association on the first Monday after the election to discuss dental contract reform.
In the last Parliament, many MPs conceded that complaints about dental access frequently dominated their constituency correspondence. The Government’s Health and Social Care Committee warned that there was a “crisis of access” to NHS dentistry, with unequal access across different regions, ethnic groups and socioeconomic groups.
The Committee’s warning was further reinforced by the Nuffield Trust, a health think tank whose own analysis concluded that “universal dental care has likely gone for good.”
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