Andrea Leadsom's Parting Shot for Dentistry
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 12 June 2024 10:08
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 640
The outgoing government’s last Primary care minister dealing with dentistry, was Andrea Leadsom. She recently announced that she would not be seeking re-election. The political career of an MP who was in the running to be Prime Minister in 2016, has come to a lower profile close than she once hoped.
She has not left her last government post without leaving some controversy behind her. According to the Health Service Journal, she had suggested the public could pay a monthly fee — similar to an insurance scheme — to be entitled to free NHS dentistry. This was reported to have occurred at several roundtable meetings held by the Department of Health and Social Care. Several sources present at, or briefed about the suggestion, have confirmed that the idea was floated at several meetings held looking for solutions to help solve the dental access crisis.
At one of the meetings, held in April 2024, a potential rate of around £10 per month was mentioned. It was suggested this would entitle subscribers to regular check-ups and to some other inclusive dental care. One explanation was that this was aimed at raising more income to increase NHS capacity, and a view that radical reform of contracts and charges may be needed to fix the huge access problems in many parts of England.
One source said Ms Leadsom compared the proposal to “season ticket” schemes, used by some to pay for regular prescriptions. But the source pointed out it sounded more like a “health insurance” style arrangement separate from the NHS, which would be difficult for some to afford.
One source familiar with the proposal commented: “They are framing this as some kind of pre-payment or quid pro quo, but of course we already pay for the NHS through income tax, and in general that is a much more equitable way of doing it.”
The proposal has received little support. Jacob Lant, former policy chief at Healthwatch, and now Chief Executive of National Voices, which was among the organisations represented at the roundtables, had a counter suggestion: “With far too many people already avoiding going to the dentist due to cost, we would urge for a significant expansion of eligibility for free NHS dental care. This would help address a major barrier which is preventing people from accessing this vital preventative service.” He cited a recent survey showing that the numbers avoiding dental visits due to cost worries had increased over the last year.
Former CDO, Barry Cockcroft, was also present at the meetings in his role as an independent expert. He said: “It’s hard to see how it could be implemented, and it’s difficult to imagine how it would cope with people moving. There are so many imponderables it’s impossible to think it could ever be implemented.”
For the British Dental Association, GDPC chair Shawn Charlwood, observed that the government’s NHS plan might cost more than some private schemes. He added that the plan, “wouldn’t offer a cure for underinvestment, failed contracts or widening inequality.”
On X the suggestion did no better. Dr Liz Fisher, Senior Fellow at the Nuffield Trust, in a 16 part thread, dignified the proposal with some analysis. It did not fare well. Dr Fisher’s conclusion was that it would not sort out the problems of NHS dentistry which needed fundamental contract reform. Perhaps, she wondered if the Minister had floated the idea to see what response it got.
Ultimately this doesn’t sort out the issue with the current situation in NHS dentistry or the contract which we @NuffieldTrust said needs fundamental reform in our report. I wonder whether this one of those occasions where ministers floats an idea and see what the response is?
— Liz Fisher (@DrLizFisher) June 7, 2024
Consultant in Dental Public Health, Sam Shah, was more succinct. It was, he wrote: “One of the silliest things that Leadsom bought up in the roundtable,” and added, “I doubt she even understood what she was saying.”
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch, was short and to the point: “A completely irrelevant ineffective roundtable with so many stakeholders condensed into an hour meeting. Never serious.”
Perhaps in his first two adjectives and last brief sentence he has written the definitive epitaph for the outgoing government’s relationship with NHS dentistry.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report