Minister Teases over Dental Recovery Plan “Gimmicks”
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- Published: Thursday, 01 August 2024 15:08
- Written by Peter Ingle
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A debate in the House of Commons on the NHS Dental Contracting Framework gave the recently appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, an opportunity to flesh out his plans for NHS dentistry.
He began with his answer to a question posed by a trio of MP’s asking “What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the NHS dental contracting framework.” Mr Streeting did not miss an opportunity to remind listeners just how bad the situation the new government has inherited is, saying: “We have our work cut out for us, with not only the worst economic inheritance since 1945, for which the Conservatives should show more humility, but the worst crisis in the history of our national health service, which we see reflected particularly in NHS dentistry.
“Some 13 million people in England have unmet need for NHS dentistry, or 28% of the country, and it is disgraceful that rotting teeth are the most common reason for children aged between five and nine being admitted to hospital.” He added that he had already met the BDA to start a conversation on contract reform and looked forward to rebuilding NHS dentistry.
One of the MP’s that had tabled the question, Alice Macdonald (Lab) described her constituency of Norwich North as a “dental desert” and called for a dental school to be established in the East of England, to train more dentists. Mr Streeting described Norwich North as the “Sahara of dental deserts”, stating that there were only 36 dentists per 100,000 residents, compared to the national average of 53. He added that he would be “delighted” to meet with her to discuss the University of East Anglia’s proposal for a Dental School.
Lewis Atkinson(Lab) the new MP for Sunderland Central was already hearing from his constituents about the lack of NHS dental access and emergency care. He asked, aside from contract reform, what was being done about provision of urgent care. The minister’s reply referenced the promised 700,000 urgent appointments and referred to “recruiting dentists where they are most needed,” but did not expand on how this was going to be done.
The direction of the debate changed when Dame Harriet Baldwin (West Worcestershire, Con) asked what impact the NHS recovery plan launched earlier in the year, was having, and for details of increased availability of appointments within her local ICB.
She did not get a specific answer but had set up the minister to opine that the public had delivered their verdict on the progress that her party had made with its recovery plan, in the general election. He said, “NHS dentistry is non-existent in huge parts of the country. We will stick with some aspects of the previous Government’s dental recovery plan because they are the right solutions, but there are gimmicks that we will not proceed with.”
Layla Moran (Lib Dem Oxford West and Abingdon) asked for a timeline for the changes to NHS dentistry that were “so desperately needed.” In his reply the Minister managed to reference 1948 and the inception of the NHS, Lancashire mill workers, and Nye Bevan. When it came to offering a timeline, Lord Darzi’s review on the state of the NHS would report in September. In the meantime, talks with the BDA and work within the Department and across the sector, would continue to get the 700,000 appointments delivered, “as a matter of urgency.”
In response to a question asking if the previous governments promised 240 ‘golden hellos’ for dentists in underserved areas would remain, the minister recognised the workforce problems and said: “We need to incentivise dentists, on two fronts: we need them to commit to and do more work in the NHS—we are looking at a range of things in that regard—and we need to ensure that we get more dentists to the areas in which they are most needed. We will certainly support incentives to that effect.”
Shadow minister, Saqib Bhatti (Merriden and Solihull East, Con) asked about the progress of the dental van project announced by Victoria Atkins. Would the dental vans be on the road by the autumn as she had promised?
This was a gift to Wes Streeting, as it allowed him to observe that he could not have picked a better example of the previous Government’s desperately low ceiling of ambition. After 14 years, they “lauded their triumph of dental vans roaming the country in the absence of actual dentists and dental surgeries. What an absolute disgrace.”
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