UDA contract proposals impact on associates
The proposals for contractual change introduce new ways of getting paid for NHS work, which will affect associates.
The amount you are paid individually will still be determined by your contract with the practice, and we will provide advice on this once the contract changes are confirmed.
For most associates who provide NHS dental services in England, payment will continue to be based on the number of UDAs you deliver. This part of the system is not changing. What will change is the way UDAs are attributed for the work you carry out.
Care packages
The new proposals introduce care packages with fixed national payment amounts. These amounts will be converted into UDAs and attributed to associates in the same way as banded treatments. You should receive the same percentage of these national payments as your agreed percentage of the contract’s UDA value so the licence fee for all UDAs should be the same.
To calculate what the care packages are worth to you, you will need know what the practice’s UDA value is and how much you are paid per UDA. You can then use the following formula:
Value of care package to associate:
To work out how many UDAs a care package is worth, use this formula:
Worked example
If the practice’s contract is worth £34 per UDA and you are paid at £12.60. Care package one is worth is £272.
Value of care package to associate:
You can also calculate the number of UDAs you will see on your schedule for the care package.
UDAs for performing care package:
You will therefore see this on your schedule on Compass as £272 ÷ £34/UDA = 8 UDAs.
On these figures, care package two will be worth 20 UDAs and care package 3 will be worth 7 UDAs.
Urgent care
Under the proposals, practices would be required to deliver a set amount of urgent care appointments. For each urgent care slot, there would be a £5 payment, made whether or not the slot is filled. If an urgent course of treatment (CoT) is delivered during the appointment, the total payment would be topped up to £75.
These national payments would be converted into UDAs, following the same approach as the care packages. The same principles that apply to care packages would also apply to the urgent care payments.
To calculate what the urgent care payments are worth to you, you will need know what the practice’s UDA value is and how much you are paid per UDA. You can then use the following formula.
Value of urgent care to associate:
To work out how many UDAs a care package is worth, use this formula:
You can also calculate the number of UDAs you will see on your schedule for the care package.
We believe these payments are insufficient, and instead favour a sessional model.
Fissure sealants
Fissure sealants will be reallocated to band 2, making the process simpler to understand. As with other CoTs, this will either be worth three UDAs, or five UDAs if you treat three or more teeth.
For example, in a UDA value of £12.60, the payment would increase from one UDA (£12.60) to three UDAs (£37.80), or five UDAs (£63).
Denture modification
For denture modifications, it is proposed that these will be worth two UDAs, alongside a CoT or care package. How this payment flows will depend on your contractual arrangements for handling lab bills, but in principle, the proposed change means increased funding to cover these costs.
Fluoride varnish
When fluoride varnish is delivered as a standalone CoT, it is proposed that this will be worth 0.5 UDAs. For an associate with a UDA value of £12.60, this equates to £6.30. Where the fluoride varnish is referred to another member of the dental team, such as an Extended Duties Dental Nurse, the payment will reflect the contractual arrangements in your practice. We will issue advice on this when the final details are confirmed.
We believe this level of proposed payment is unlikely to provide a sufficient incentive or cover the costs of delivering care in this way.
Appraisal
Appraisals are proposed to be funded at six UDAs. A straightforward way to work this out is to apply your usual percentage to the total payment. For example, on a £34 UDA value, where you receive £12.60 per UDA, this would work out at £75.60 for the associate.
We believe that this proposed level of payment is insufficient, and instead favour a fixed national amount for the appraisal of £960.
Clinical audit and peer review
For clinical audit and peer review, we are concerned that the Government may set a standard payment regardless of practice size. Once the details are finalised, we will provide advice for members on how to ensure those participating in the review are fairly paid.
Our view is that a sliding scale of payment linked to the size of the contract would make it easier to ensure that larger practice teams all get paid fairly for participating.
The amount you are paid individually will still be determined by your contract with the practice, and we will provide advice on this once the contract changes are confirmed.
For most associates who provide NHS dental services in England, payment will continue to be based on the number of UDAs you deliver. This part of the system is not changing. What will change is the way UDAs are attributed for the work you carry out.
Care packages
The new proposals introduce care packages with fixed national payment amounts. These amounts will be converted into UDAs and attributed to associates in the same way as banded treatments. You should receive the same percentage of these national payments as your agreed percentage of the contract’s UDA value so the licence fee for all UDAs should be the same.
To calculate what the care packages are worth to you, you will need know what the practice’s UDA value is and how much you are paid per UDA. You can then use the following formula:
Value of care package to associate:
To work out how many UDAs a care package is worth, use this formula:
Worked example
If the practice’s contract is worth £34 per UDA and you are paid at £12.60. Care package one is worth is £272.
Value of care package to associate:
You can also calculate the number of UDAs you will see on your schedule for the care package.
UDAs for performing care package:
You will therefore see this on your schedule on Compass as £272 ÷ £34/UDA = 8 UDAs.
On these figures, care package two will be worth 20 UDAs and care package 3 will be worth 7 UDAs.
Urgent care
Under the proposals, practices would be required to deliver a set amount of urgent care appointments. For each urgent care slot, there would be a £5 payment, made whether or not the slot is filled. If an urgent course of treatment (CoT) is delivered during the appointment, the total payment would be topped up to £75.
These national payments would be converted into UDAs, following the same approach as the care packages. The same principles that apply to care packages would also apply to the urgent care payments.
To calculate what the urgent care payments are worth to you, you will need know what the practice’s UDA value is and how much you are paid per UDA. You can then use the following formula.
Value of urgent care to associate:
To work out how many UDAs a care package is worth, use this formula:
Worked example
If the practice’s contract is worth £34 per UDA and you are paid at £12.60. The urgent care payment is £75.
You can also calculate the number of UDAs you will see on your schedule for the care package.
We believe these payments are insufficient, and instead favour a sessional model.
Fissure sealants
Fissure sealants will be reallocated to band 2, making the process simpler to understand. As with other CoTs, this will either be worth three UDAs, or five UDAs if you treat five or more teeth.
For example, ion a UDA value of £12.60, the payment would increase from one UDA (£12.60) to three UDAs (£37.80), or five UDAs (£63).
Denture modification
For denture modifications, it is proposed that these will be worth two UDAs, alongside a CoT or care package. How this payment flows will depend on your contractual arrangements for handling lab bills, but in principle, the proposed change means increased funding to cover these costs.
Fluoride varnish
When fluoride varnish is delivered as a standalone CoT, it is proposed that this will be worth 0.5 UDAs. For an associate with a UDA value of £12.60, this equates to £6.30. Where the fluoride varnish is referred to another member of the dental team, such as an Extended Duties Dental Nurse, the payment will reflect the contractual arrangements in your practice. We will issue advice on this when the final details are confirmed.
We believe this level of proposed payment is unlikely to provide a sufficient incentive or cover the costs of delivering care in this way.
Appraisal
Appraisals are proposed to be funded at six UDAs. A straightforward way to work this out is to apply your usual percentage to the total payment. For example, on a £34 UDA value, where you receive £12.60 per UDA, this would work out at £75.60 for the associate.
We believe that this proposed level of payment is insufficient, and instead favour a fixed national amount for the appraisal of £960.
Clinical audit and peer review
For clinical audit and peer review, we are concerned that the Government may set a standard payment regardless of practice size. Once the details are finalised, we will provide advice for members on how to ensure those participating in the review are fairly paid.
Our view is that a sliding scale of payment linked to the size of the contract would make it easier to ensure that larger practice teams all get paid fairly for participating.