The British Dental Association has backed pledges in the NHS 10 Year Plan to begin work this year on fundamental reform required to restore access to care and make the struggling service sustainable longer term, but stressed real urgency is now required.
The top-level document has pledged to begin this year on wholesale reform of the discredited NHS contract fuelling the exodus from the NHS. However, no deadline has been set for rollout.
The dental profession is uniquely placed to deliver on the Government’s strategic shifts from sickness to prevention, and from hospital to community. To achieve that ambition, the BDA say the Labour Party needs to move at pace on reforming the contract, and putting a prevention-focused, patient-centred model in its place.
Last Summer Health Secretary Wes Streeting commissioned Lord Darzi to offer a diagnosis on the crises across the NHS, to which he would provide the “prescription.” Echoing the position of two Health Select Committees in two dedicated inquiries, the Nuffield Trust and the dental profession, his independent review of the NHS concluded: "If dentistry is to continue as a core NHS service, urgent action is needed to develop a contract that balances activity and prevention, is attractive to dentists and rewards those dentists who practice in less served areas.”
The plan pledges that "by 2035, the NHS dental system will be transformed". The BDA stress that real urgency is required, with change required in this parliament to guarantee a future for the service.
Official data estimates unmet need for NHS dentistry at over 13 million, or 1 in 4 of England’s adult population. Recent polling has suggested that among those who could not get an NHS dental appointment, more than a quarter (26%) resorted to DIY dentistry, while 19% went abroad for treatment.
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said:
“NHS dentistry couldn’t be better placed to deliver the shift from sickness to prevention, from hospital to community.
“But we can’t make this service fit for the future while a failed contract remains in place.
“Ministers have made the right diagnosis here, but we can’t wait a decade for them to write the prescription.”
The professional body has, however, expressed concerns over plans to revive ideas championed by the last government to tie-in young dentists to the NHS for a 3-year minimum term. The overwhelming majority of young dentists already serve this period predominantly in the NHS. The BDA stress real progress hinges on promised reform to halt the flight of experienced older colleagues from the service.
Without clear action to make the service a more attractive place to work, the BDA warn this policy could prove counter-productive, and risks accelerating the drift to the private sector after the term is served. Dentist leaders note this policy cannot reasonably be imposed on those currently in dental school meaning any impact won't be seen until 2031.
Eddie Crouch added:
“This policy won’t stop a single experienced dentist walking away from the NHS in despair.
“The focus must be ensuring the next generation sees this service as a place they’d choose to build a career.”