BDA: Registration figures are meaningless
NewsPosted by: Dental Design 24th March 2024
The British Dental Association has responded to freedom of information requests by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, showing that:
- 1.8 million of those people (more than a third of those registered) have not had an examination or treatment in the past three years;
- Almost a quarter of those registered have not seen an NHS dentist for more than 5 years.
- The 95% figure quoted by ministers even includes more than 560,000 people (1 in 10 of those registered) who haven’t seen their NHS dentist for more than a decade
The BDA believe the Scottish Government need to start quoting meaningful participation figures, given lifelong registration figures are effectively meaningless.
David McColl, Chair of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee, said: “Registration figures make for a nice press release, but bear no relation to the crisis facing millions. For every family that’s been left unable to access care being ‘on the books’ is utterly meaningless.”
