A GDS Cost-of-Service Report, commissioned by previous Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has now been published in full on the Department of Health (DoH) website.
Read the Cost-of-Service Report.
The report, carried out by Queen’s University Belfast Health Economist Professor Ciaran O’Neill was commissioned in response to our calls for an independent evidence base to reveal the true cost to provide Health Service (HS) dentistry at a practice level, to inform a fee-rebasing exercise.
The report confirms the significant funding gap between what is being currently being paid to practices of around £90 per hour, and what Professor O’Neill says is required to deliver care of around £145 an hour.
Publishing these findings, the DoH has acknowledged this funding gap and its impact on the sustainability of HS dentistry, which they say must be closed.
DoH have committed to commencing an options appraisal to support the long-term sustainability of HS dentistry, and which will inform a future public consultation. Importantly, they have announced they will move forward with a programme of dental payment reform which will include a fee rebasing exercise.
We have engaged extensively with the Cost-of-Service process. On Friday, Professor O’Neill will attend a meeting of the Northern Ireland Dental Practice Committee (NIDPC) to present his findings; this will be followed by Martina Moore, DoH Primary Care Director on the next steps in the dental payment reform process.
“The numbers for health service dentistry in Northern Ireland simply don’t add up,” says Ciara Gallagher, Chair of the NIDPC.
"And it is this funding gap that has fuelled an exodus from a service so many depend on.
The authorities have recognised this report cannot be a purely academic exercise. Now it’s published, the focus must be acting on its conclusions.”
This report provides the objective evidence base on which dental payment reform can move forward.
We aren’t delusional about the wider financial context, but it is for Government to determine their key priorities and make tough decisions.
But we now have an expert and objective hourly rate figure, in the public domain which practitioners and practices require for the dental care they deliver. We expect dental payment reform, and specifically a fee rebasing exercise informed by Cost-of-Service findings to happen now at pace.