NHS Dentistry: NHS Dental Services
NHS Dentistry: A clear shortage of NHS dentist in the UK today.
Scottish newspapers reported a “stampede” in January after a new NHS dentist arrived in Kincardine. Last summer, in Camarthen, Wales, anxious residents lined the high street as they patiently waited to get on the books of a new dentist.
The experience of Mary O’Reilly, a finance manager living in Bristol, is typical. Since her dentist quit seven years ago, she has been unable to find another NHS practitioner prepared to take her on.
“I got the names of four or five local dentists on the internet but their books were full,” says Mary, 44.
“Twice in that time I’ve needed urgent dental work and have had to pay for it by going private. At the moment I’ve a crown coming loose. My gum is red and raw but there’s no NHS dentist prepared to treat it.”
Latest figures show most people in England do not have an NHS dentist. Just 44% of adults and 60% of children are registered with an NHS practice.
What happened to the idea of NHS dentistry for all?
For once, the problem is not a labour shortage. There are 21,000 practising dentists in the UK today compared to 16,000 in the early 1990s, according to the General Dental Practitioners Association.
Increasingly, however, they are only seeing patients privately.
The root of today’s shortage dates back to 1992, says John Renshaw of the British Dental Association, when the government cut fees to NHS dentists by 7%.
Almost all dentists in the UK are self-employed and have traditionally mixed NHS and private patients on their books.
The NHS system works like this:
- Every job has a fixed NHS price, for example a check up is £6.85; a scale and polish, £10.80
- NHS patients pay 80% of the cost of the work to the dentist
- The remaining 20% is reimbursed to the dentist by the government
The fee cut at the start of the 90s caused enormous resentment in the profession and dentists began to shed NHS patients in favour of more lucrative private work.
Yet is the money really so bad in the public sector?
An investigation by Which? magazine in 2001 found a dentist fully committed to the NHS can earn £55,000 to £65,000 a year after expenses.
But since it all depends on patient numbers, not quality of care, many dentists say the NHS is backbreaking work, with little job satisfaction.
“It’s not like a GP who has time to talk to patients. It’s all ‘chair-side’ work which is operative and very stressful,” says Mr Renshaw. “Patients are apprehensive and conscious, which just increases the pressure.”
More Here
NHS:
Changes have been made and designed to benefit patients by supporting better access to local services and simplifying the system of dental charges. They are also designed to to provide greater stability for NHS dentists and support them in carrying out simpler courses of treatment with more time available to give preventative advice to patients
Better access to local services
Your PCT is now responsible for local NHS dental services and:
- has money that must be used for local dental services
- agrees contracts with NHS dentists for services that best meet local needs
- can influence where new practices are established
- is responsible for urgent and out-of-hours care in your area
If a dentist moves, closes down a practice or reduces the amount of NHS dentistry he or she provides, the money to provide this service now remains with your PCT for reinvestment in NHS dentistry for the local community.
These changes are designed to help PCTs and dentists develop NHS dental services to better reflect local needs and priorities.
Before you receive either Band 2 or Band 3 treatment, your dentist is obliged to give you with a Personal Dental Treatment Plan. This is a single A4 sheet of paper containing information about the treatment and care your dentist recommend on one side, and details about how to use NHS dental services on the other. If you are currently undergoing Band 2 or Band 3 treatment and have not yet been given one of these forms, please ask your dentist to provide one.
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