The British Dental Association has stressed the Department of Health and Social Care must ensure the struggling NHS dental service gets its fair share of the additional £29bn the NHS has been allocated in today’s Spending Review.
New analysis indicates the share of Departmental spending allocated to dentistry has more the halved under the Conservative government, from 3.3% of the overall budget in 2010/11 to just 1.5% in 2023/24.
Dentist leaders say the choices on spend will determine the shape of the NHS 10 Year Plan and dictate Labour’s approach to meeting its manifesto commitment on reform of the discredited NHS contract which is fuelling the exodus from the service in England. A recent Public Accounts Committee inquiry stressed that meaningful reform must go hand in hand with sustainable funding.
The BDA estimates a typical practice loses over £40 delivering a set of NHS dentures, and over £7 on a new patient exam. The system is only kept afloat by hundreds of millions in cross-subsidy from the private sector – a situation that is as unfair as it is unsustainable. While the Department of Health is now conducting an exercise to measure the real cost of delivering NHS care, the professional body stresses progress will require Ministers to bridge the funding gap.
Official data estimates unmet need for NHS dentistry at over 13 million, or 1 in 4 of England’s adult population. Recent polling has suggested that a among those who could not get an NHS dental appointment, more than a quarter (26%) resorted to DIY dentistry, while 19% went abroad for treatment.
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said: “The Chancellor says she chooses investment over decline. That logic must be applied to NHS dentistry. It’s no surprise this service is on its last legs, when its share of the pie has halved in a generation. Today’s settlement offers an opportunity to restore care to millions. It can’t be missed.”
