NHS England has recently unveiled a package of initial reforms to the NHS dental contract, which seek to address the challenges associated with delivering care to priority patients and improving access to NHS care.
As part of the reforms, NHS England outlined seven measures to be implemented before the end of 2022, including improving standards of care for high-need patients; introducing a minimum indicative UDA value; personalising recall intervals; promoting the more effective use of skill mix; better use of resources; supporting dental practices to deliver more NHS care; and improving quality of and access to information for patients.
Nigel Edwards, the chief executive of the Nuffield Trust think tank, has welcomed the reforms, but critiqued the scale of their scope and ambition and emphasised that they have been long in the making.
Edwards said: “The reforms…are welcome, but small and at least a decade overdue. Despite its great importance dentistry remains an overlooked and neglected area of policy.
Edwards also shared the Trust’s concerns that the reforms may not be comprehensive enough to truly address accessibility issues around NHS dentistry.
“It is not clear whether these reforms are a sufficient answer to the growing crisis in access to NHS dentistry. It needs a big overhaul rather than small tweaks at the edges.
“A lack of investment and misalignment between costs and funding have made it increasingly unattractive to be an NHS dentist. The resulting exodus of dentists has fuelled growing waiting times.
“While more money to help high-performing dental surgeries see more NHS patients is helpful, it does not address the problem that many areas in England have little or no access to an NHS dentist. I am afraid that people will for some time yet need to choose between long waits for a dental appointment or high costs for private care.”
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