The British Dental Association has joined forces with the Daily Mirror and campaigners 38 Degrees, to press government to fully fund future reform of NHS dentistry.
Tens of thousands have already signed up to a new call on government to properly fund the struggling service and consign the access crisis to history.
The professional body has welcomed pledges that promised reform will roll out within this parliament but remains deeply concerned that not a penny of new investment has been pledged to underpin the rebuild. Without movement here, it remains unclear how the unprecedented access gap can be closed, and struggling practices made sustainable.
In evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee in July, Minister Stephen Kinnock said he would work on the assumption the future budget would be essentially unchanged and insisted “we need to cut our cloth based on the resources that we have.”
The budget for NHS dentistry has remained flat since 2010, with no attempt to keep pace with demand, inflation, or population growth. The budget is made up of both dental charges and government contributions. Even before factoring in inflation, Government put in less in 2023/24 (£2.18bn) then it did in 2010/11 (£2.2bn). This is unique for any NHS service. Factoring in inflation this has translated into savage real-terms cuts to the total budget of over a third, which has contributed to a collapse in access to care and a workforce exodus.
Underfunding has reached the point where NHS dentistry is now being kept afloat by private patients. A typical NHS dentist loses £42.60 for every denture fitted and £7.69 for every new patient exam they carry out. The Department of Health and Social Care has collected data for a 'cost of service' exercise to measure this, but it has yet to be published.
The BDA stress that to save NHS dentistry, and deliver a sustainable prevention-focused, patient-centred model of care, would require only a modest investment. The BDA has modelled those costs at an additional £1.5bn a year.
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said:
“Ministers have acknowledged NHS dentistry is at ‘death’s door’. That the horror stories we keep seeing are ‘Dickensian’.
“It’s all true. But if we’re going to save this service, we need them to put their money where their mouth is.
“It’s the practices delivering NHS care at a loss. The pay uplifts that are actual pay cuts. The vacancies that can’t be filled.
“It’s simple economics. When it comes to NHS dentistry the Government will get what it pays for.”
ENDS