We have negotiated with Government on further small scale, positive changes to the discredited NHS dental contract. These should be rolled out at pace but must go ahead in parallel with work on fundamental reform of NHS dentistry.
The changes – set to be put to consultation for six weeks and likely to be in force from April 2026 - work within the framework of the 2006 contract. The recently announced NHS 10 Year Health Plan stated that "by 2035, the NHS dental system will be transformed". Real reform cannot wait a decade, with change required in this Parliament, underpinned by sustainable funding.
Measures going out to consultation include:
- A new time-limited ‘care pathway’ for higher needs patients, that is set to provide fairer pay for more clinically complex cases, that are typically under-remunerated or even delivered at a loss under this contract.
- Dentists to be paid for activity that helps prevent oral disease and decay.
- New payments to support clinical audits and peer reviews at practice level to help improve quality.
- Practices will be mandated to provide a level of urgent care, at an improved rate.
Free webinar on the NHS contract changes
A webinar covering these changes will take place on Wednesday 16 July from 19:30 - 20:30.
You can sign up to the event via our website, please note that you must be a registered site user to be able to secure a slot for the webinar first, then you will be able to access the live webinar.
An important difference from measures set out in the ineffective dental ‘recovery plan’ taken forward by the last government in early 2024, is that these new proposed changes are the result of genuine negotiation and constructive engagement.
Many of the measures act on our specific calls to enhance the contract for high needs patients, urgent care, prevention and quality improvement. This should underpin the approach going forward to reform the NHS contract.
“These small, positive improvements are about as far as we can fix NHS dentistry while a broken system remains in place” says General Dental Practice Committee Chair Shiv Pabary.
“We hope this can steady the ship, but this this is not the final destination for a service still at risk of going under.”
We are now working at pace to develop a full suite of resources to support our members during the consultation process and beyond.
