NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have launched a new urgent care scheme, where practices can earn up to £50 for delivering additional urgent care courses of treatment this financial year.
Participating practices will receive an extra £50 per urgent course of treatment in addition to the normal 1.2 UDAs, if they deliver 125% above their baseline urgent care delivery. Those achieving between 117.5% and 125% will receive an extra £25 per urgent course of treatment delivered above the baseline.
These payments are made in addition to contract values, so there is an opportunity to earn additional money.
However, participating practices who are only able to deliver between 100% and 117.5% of their baseline will only receive the normal 1.2 UDAs.
The baseline will be calculated on the basis of their urgent care delivery between April and July this year. This will then be extrapolated to 12 months to set a baseline level of activity. These figures have been calculated and will be shared with practices.
Eligible practices will be able to opt in to the scheme. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) will contact practices to express an interest by 17 October. Some practices will not be eligible if they are already participating in another similar scheme.
"This scheme is a further admission that the NHS underpays for urgent dental care, but there are better ways to pay for it and secure access for patients than what is proposed," says General Dental Practice Committee Chair Shiv Pabary.
"We tabled proposals for sessional payments with Ministers as soon as they set out that delivering extra urgent care was a priority last summer. This model has a track record of local success."
"At this stage in the year, it is difficult for dentists to accurately predict how much urgent care - that is demand-led - will be delivered by the end of March next year. Practices will need to decide for themselves whether the reward on offer is worth the risk of delivering additional urgent care, but missing the threshold and receiving just 1.2 UDAs."
"For practices that have the capacity to deliver extra activity, there is an opportunity to earn extra funding, something that has rarely been on offer since the capped contract was introduced in 2006."