We have worked alongside the BBC to reveal how – during an access crisis – £900 million of budget has been handed back by dentists. It reflects the perversity of the broken contract our members are working within and underlines our case for a fair deal on funding.
The reality is - as Minister for Care Stephen Kinnock told parliament on 13 January - almost all this money has been recycled to fund recovery programmes, with total underspend for NHS general dental services in England falling from £392 million in 2023-24 to just £36 million, a fall from 10% to less than 1% of the gross budget.
Unused budgets have long been the traditional excuse from successive governments for not funding NHS dentistry appropriately. But this clawback is itself the result of chronic underfunding, with dentists now losing money delivering NHS care, and unable to fill vacancies. And not a penny of new investment has been pledged by Government to rebuild the struggling service.
"The fact dentists couldn't even spend their budget has always been cited by Ministers as the reason they won't invest in dentistry,” says BDA Chair Eddie Crouch.
"This was never about lack of demand. It was about underfunded practices struggling to meet punishing targets and fill vacancies.
“It's the simple fact we now have dentists losing money delivering NHS care. It might suit the Treasury, but no healthcare professional can be expected to work this way.
"These underspends have all but vanished, but the access crisis is still with us. The last excuse for austerity in NHS dentistry has left the building."
The time has come for a sustainable funding settlement that covers dentists' costs and addresses sizable unmet need for NHS care. Without action here, pledged reform of the NHS contract may be doomed from the outset. In our work in parliament and the press we will continue making the argument for fair and sustainable funding
