NHS Dental Reforms Yet To Inspire Trust Of Profession And Promote Access, Says British Dental Association

The most radical shake-up in NHS dentistry for over 50 years has failed to inspire confidence in the dental profession, nor has it improved access or encouraged a more preventive approach to dental care, according to the British Dental Association.

Commenting on the Department of Health's report - NHS Dental Reforms: One year on - out today, the Chief Executive of British Dental Association, Peter Ward said:

"This first year report on the new untested contract for dentists justifies our concerns and will do little to rebuild trust with the profession. By the government's own admission, we now have fewer NHS dentists and access to care for patients remains patchy. This is not a picture of success and confidence.

"The report recognises the importance of genuine local flexibility for patient care but this can only be achieved by moving away from the rigidity of this crude target-driven contract. The government must start listening to the profession and patients if local commissioning is to provide the services that local communities deserve."

The BDA has repeatedly called on the Government to scrap the currency of the new contract - the unit of dental activity (UDA) - as the only way of measuring performance.

Peter Ward said:
"Contractual performance has to be monitored but UDAs are only a single and very crude method. We need a more sophisticated approach which is sensitive to the reality of delivering dental care to patients and which supports preventive care, rather than works against it."

1. The British Dental Association (BDA) was responding to the Department of Health's publication which looked at the first year of dental reform.

2. There are at least 500 fewer NHS dentists under the new contract (page 26, para 6.5 of today's report).

3. Acording to the Department's own figures, access to NHS dental services has reduced by 47,000 patients since the introduction of the new contract. The NHS Dental Statistics for England for Quarter 4 (31 March 2007), page 6, state the following: click here. In the 24 months to 31 March 2006 - i.e. under the old contract - 28,145,000 patients were seen by an NHS dentist. In the 24 months to 31 March 2007 - i.e. first year of the new contract - 28,098,000 patients were seen by an NHS dentist.

4. The BDA carried out a survey of dentists in February and March 2007 to coincide with the first anniversary of the dental reforms. The findings are based on a 41% responses rate of 1,500 dentists in England and Wales. The research showed that 85 per cent of dentists believed that the new contract had not improved access to NHS dentistry for patients. Ninety-seven per cent thought the new contract had not removed dentists from the 'treadmill', and 93 per cent thought that the new system had not encouraged a more preventive approach to care. The BDA's research also showed that dentists' confidence in the future of NHS dentistry had fallen dramatically. Ninety-five per cent of respondents said that they were less confident about the future of NHS dentistry than was the case two years ago.

5. The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional association for dentists in the UK. It represents over 20,000 dentists working in general practice, in community and hospital settings, in academia and research, and in the armed forces.

The British Dental Association

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