Northern Ireland: Positive engagement with new Permanent Secretary

7 July 2022

We recently received a letter from the new Department of Health Permanent Secretary, Peter May. The letter follows a meeting in June to discuss how we can work together on Dental Contract Reform and addressing the true cost to deliver Health Service Dentistry.

We have been working hard to highlight the soaring expenses facing practitioners to provide HS dentistry and what is needed to make it more financially viable at practice level. We are pleased that these important issues have been heard and acknowledged at the DoH, but there is still a long road ahead.

The letter confirms the extension of the Rebuilding Support Scheme into the second quarter of the year to help address the ongoing issues with rising costs while we look to discuss longer-term reform.

The Department plan to gather your views through a survey in the coming months to help inform how contract reform should move forward. Your input will be vital to ensure that GDP concerns and issues are heard. In the meantime, we will continue to put forward your views to support dental teams at practice level.

Together, we can shape what changes need to be made to the contract and the funding model, as we seek to address the crisis of confidence in Health Service dentistry. We will keep you informed with our progress over the coming months.