The British Dental Association has stressed Government must show its ready to act on the new Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report into NHS financial sustainability, that has found the long-held ambition to move more care from hospitals to community has stalled.

With the Nuffield Trust concluding that NHS dentistry is at the most perilous point in its history, the BDA has expressed its exasperation that the Government’s ‘Plan for Change’ has ignored high street dentistry, focusing ever more resource into secondary care.

The recent Budget offered exemptions for hospitals from the hike in National Insurance, but there is no clarity on what mitigations will be offered to struggling NHS practices, many of whom are already delivering some NHS treatment at a financial loss.

Shawn Charlwood, Chair of the British Dental Association’s General Dental Practice Committee said: “Ministers say they want to shift the focus from hospital to community, but their spending plans tell a very different story.

“Primary care is the front door of the NHS and it’s clearly broken. Government needs to put its money where its mouth is and start fixing it.”

The PAC has just launched a call for evidence on a new inquiry into Fixing NHS dentistry. The professional body says this inquiry couldn’t be more timely. Shawn Charlwood added: “The Health Committee provided an instruction manual to save this service.

“What’s remained missing to date is the sustainable funding to deliver it.”

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