NHS England dentistry and oral health update
From 1 October, amendments will be implemented to the FP17 to facilitate the submission of claims in relation to treatment completed by dental therapists and others. Where practices are wishing to make use of this, they should ensure that they have appropriate conversations with staff around competence, confidence, and any necessary training. DCPs should only undertake work that is within their scope of practice, which they are trained and competent to do.
Patients should be informed that they will not be seen by a dentist. Dentists and DCPs may wish to also consult their indemnity provider to ensure that proper arrangements are in place. BDA Extra and Expert members can also contact our Advice Team for guidance.
There will also be changes to the FP17’s clinical dataset to support the personalisation of recall intervals and the payment of additional UDAs for band 2 treatments. However, while data relating to the latter will be collected from this date, the payment of additional UDAs will not come into effect until regulatory changes are agreed by Parliament.
We have recently responded to a consultation on these regulatory changes, and we hope that NHS England and the DHSC will be able to ensure that they are implemented as soon as feasible. As the update indicates, it is expected that this will be from the end of November.
We have asked NHS England for the additional UDAs to be backdated to 1 October, but it is our understanding that this will not be legally possible and the additional UDAs will only apply to courses of treatment opened after the regulations come into effect. This is a matter that requires clarity from NHS England to give dentists certainty about the claims they are submitting going forward.
Contracts with a UDA value below £23 per UDA should already have received communication about the increasing of their UDA value to £23 and this will apply from 1 October onwards.
Members can access a recording of our recent webinar on NHS contractual changes in England, for free. Look out for a new question and answer session about the new marginal changes, coming very soon.
We will update members as soon as we have more information. Please keep an eye on our latest updates section.