The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned a new government must grasp the nettle on NHS dentistry, as new data shows unmet need for care remains near an all-time high of well over 13 million.
The professional body’s analysis of the newly published GP Survey by Ipsos shows levels of unmet need for care are almost unchanged on last year, remaining at over 1 in 4 of England’s adult population. [1]
4.9m adult patients tried and failed to secure NHS care in the last 2 years – a fall of a 800,000 on last year’s figures, but with a surge in the number of people who have effectively given up trying, with the number of people not even attempting to make appointments as they didn’t think they could secure care up by 300,000 to 6.2 million.
The costs of care remain a major issue, pushing 1.3 million away, and over 800,000 indicated they were on waiting lists.
Prior to Covid, levels of unmet need hovered consistently at around 1 in 10 of the adult population.
The BDA stress that the current administration’s messaging on the NHS being on the ‘road to recovery’ simply does not apply to dentistry and the crisis millions still face. To date, the Government has only offered minor tweaks to the discredited contract fuelling the exodus from the service. A public consultation setting out its ambitions was set to land ‘this summer’ and has been downgraded to coming ‘in due course’.
The BDA has publicly warned there is now a material risk that Labour promises to fundamentally reform NHS dentistry in this parliament cannot be kept. The Government has also yet to offer a penny of new investment to underpin the rebuild or expand access. A generation of savage cuts mean typical practices are now delivering a range of NHS care at a financial loss. [2]
Dentist leaders say the Burnham administration must show real urgency and ambition if NHS dentistry is going to survive. Burnham, as Health Secretary in 2009, began the process of reform, and the BDA says it reflects the casual indifference of successive governments that 17 years later that same system is still in place. [3]
During the recent by-election, the BDA contacted every NHS provider in the Makerfield constituency, and found not one was in a position to take on new adult NHS patients. [4] Recent research by the Green Party has suggested that England wide 9 in 10 practices are in the same position. [5] The BDA stress the next Prime Minister’s “Makerfield Test” must be applied to NHS dentistry. It has now partnered with campaigners at 38 Degrees to encourage dentists and patients to join their call on Burnham to fix and fund NHS dentistry.
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said:
“Andy Burnham speaks of a ‘Makerfield Test’, that he wouldn’t sign up to policies that failed his own constituents.
“Well, his voters, and millions of others are being comprehensively failed by an NHS dental system designed in Westminster.
“Tweaks at the margins and unfunded gimmicks have barely scratched the surface. A new administration must deliver real reform.”