With no uptick in gold standard measures of patient satisfaction for NHS dentistry, we’ve warned Ministers that any meaningful recovery hinges on fundamental reform, wedded to a sustainable funding settlement.
While the King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust’s British Social Attitudes survey revealed a 5.6 percentage point increase in satisfaction in the NHS - the first increase since the Covid-19 pandemic - attitudes to NHS dentistry remained effectively unchanged on last year, with only one in five respondents (22%) indicating they were satisfied with the service, and 54% saying they were dissatisfied.
As recently as 2019 satisfaction was at 60%. Last year satisfaction hit a record low of 20%, with dissatisfaction levels at 55%.
The optimistic picture set out by the Health Secretary does not apply to dentistry, and that is the net result of choices made by his Department and the Treasury.
Wes Streeting has said: “When this government came to office, I said that, while the NHS was broken, it wasn’t beaten. Patients are beginning to feel the change and the NHS is showing that things can get better.
“The biggest drop in dissatisfaction since 1998 doesn’t happen by accident. It is thanks to the government’s investment and modernisation- all of which has been hard fought but is now delivering results.”
A generation of static budgets has left dentists losing money delivering NHS care, and unable to fill vacancies. Not a penny of new investment has been pledged by Government to rebuild the struggling service.
“Dentistry’s flatlining recovery didn’t happen by accident,” says our Chair Eddie Crouch. “It’s the direct result of choices made by government accountants.
“Patient dissatisfaction remains at record lows. Without fundamental reform and sustainable investment this will not change.”
The time has come for a fair funding settlement that covers dentists' costs and addresses sizable unmet need for NHS care. Without action here, pledged reform of the discredited NHS contract may be doomed from the outset.