Dental Recovery Plan: What Recovery?
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- Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2024 17:30
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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The Dental Recovery Plan (DRP), launched by the Conservative government in February, is failing to deliver the improvements it promised.
This is the conclusion of analysis by spending watchdog the National Audit Office which casts doubt on the claim by the former Secretary of State for Health Victoria Atkins that the DRP would "pave the way for an additional 1.5 million appointments in 2024-25."
Dismissed at the time by the dental profession as a desperate ’Get Out Of Jail’ card played only because an election loomed, the DRP pledged to dispatch dental vans to underserved communities and to pay dentists willing to move to the so-called ’dental deserts’ a ’golden hello’ worth £20,000 over three years.
The Plan raised the minimum UDA rate to £28 and introduced a time limited ’new patient premium’ worth £50 to incentivise dentists to see patients who had not been seen for two years.
The ’patient premium’ was expected to drive two thirds of the DRP’s target of 1.5 million extra appointments, however, the NAO’s report observes that NHS data until the end of September had revealed “fewer new patients had been seen in the first seven months of the premium than the equivalent period in the previous year”.
To date, no vans have been procured and only one dentist has taken up the offer of a golden hello. The aim was to recruit 240 dentists to work in the so-called ’deserts’, a plan which critics said could only benefit one area at the expense of provision in another.
The NAO adds that even if the DRP delivered on its promise, the NHS would still be delivering 2.6m fewer appointments this year than it did in the year before Covid hit.
Compared to 2019-20, the NAO says that the NHS provided 4.7m fewer courses of treatment last year. Only 40% of adults in England saw a dentist in the two years to this March, whereas 49% did so pre-pandemic.
Healthwatch England Chief Louise Ansari said “These findings underline the deplorable state of NHS dentistry.
“The difficulty of getting NHS dental treatment is one of the public’s biggest concerns about the healthcare system generally and is a crisis that dental leaders have estimated is denying 13 million people access to NHS appointments.”
Her sentiments were echoed by Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association. She said "NHS dental care is “broken” and added “People are living with untreated dental issues, enduring significant pain, as well as the mental and emotional burden of decayed or missing teeth.
“Being unable to access NHS dentistry is no longer just a matter of inconvenience – it’s a serious public health concern,” She added that it was “staggering” that there are "483 fewer dentists doing NHS work compared with 2019-20 whilst the NHS’s dental budget is being underspent."
Stephen Kinnock is the Minister with responsibility for dentistry. He is in talks with the British Dental Association and others in a bid to formulate a new contract that will entice dentists to work in the NHS. Details are patchy and nobody is expecting to see white smoke billowing from the chimney at 64 Wimpole Street any time soon.
Kinnock said “We have inherited a dental service where many people are struggling to find an NHS dentist and a recovery plan that is not fit for purpose.
“This government is committed to rebuilding dentistry, but it will take time. We are working on further measures, prioritising initiatives that will see the biggest impact on access to NHS dental care.
“We will start with an extra 700,000 urgent dentistry appointments to help those who need it most, and reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients.”
The NAO’s analysis suggests that far from failing to meet the last government’s 1.5 million target, the NHS dental service may be hard pressed to reach the new government’s more modest one.
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