In the Scottish Budget 2022-23, published last week, the GDS budget increased by £38 million. It will go up from £431 million in 2021-22 to £469 million in 2022-23 – a rise of 8.8%. This follows an increase of £2.4 million (0.6%) last year. This increase presumably includes the patient charge for 18-25 year-olds who no longer pay for NHS dental treatments.
Scottish Government officials have previously stated that these figures represent a "nominal" budget, as NHS dentistry is a demand-led service. Actual spend on GDS and PDS was previously included in the annual Primary Care Dentistry in Scotland reports, but these are no longer published. We have requested the latest spending figures from Public Health Scotland.
We will continue to press the Scottish Government to fund NHS dentistry at sufficient levels to maintain the viability of practices.