We’ve sat down with the new team at the Department of Health and Social Care, with clear evidence from the frontline. Dentists across England are expressing real doubts whether Government will deliver on its promises, and tweaks at the margins are not enough to end this crisis.
Our new temperature check survey of dentists in England shows that following recent changes to the NHS contract just 1% of dentists say they are likely to increase the volume of NHS work they do. Almost two thirds say they will reduce it.
Only 10% of dentists believe these changes have made NHS dentistry better. Less than 1 in 10 believe the new government is likely to deliver fundamental reform of NHS dentistry. Four fifths do not agree it’s likely to meet patient need, fund the service properly, or deliver a comprehensive workforce plan.
We’re confident we’ve put the messages you’ve shared with us across. This news follows recent analysis from the Nuffield Trust showing 1 in 10 dental practices in England have abandoned their NHS contracts since March 2017. That includes a loss of 135 NHS practices since 2024, the year Labour came to power.
What we need is the Department of Health to double down. The last administration failed to keep its pledge to put its vision of fundamental reform to public consultation this summer. While former ministers have made tweaks to the discredited contract fuelling the crisis in the service, to date not a penny of new investment has been committed to the rebuild.
But the last two years have shown there are plausible routes to reform on the table – there is no need to reinvent the wheel or start from scratch. What we need is momentum, and political will.
Clearly, the crisis is still with us. Yes, there have been some gains in activity in the last year, but our analysis of official data published earlier this summer indicates that unmet need for NHS dentistry remains near record highs, at well over 13 million, or over 1 in 4 of England’s adult population.
“Fixing NHS dentistry remains unfinished business” says GDPC Chair Shiv Pabary.
“Tweaks at the margins simply haven’t changed the fundamentals. Millions still have no options, and demoralised dentists are still walking away.
“Before the last election Labour told us the cavalry was coming. The longer this profession is left to wait, the less of a service there will be left to save.”
We want to thank every dentist who took part for their time, and for providing the ammo we need to fight their corner. You can help us joining over 50,000 supporters, and signing our message to the new government, to fix and fund this service.