The British Dental Association has dismissed calls for a focus on further ‘incremental reforms’ to the discredited contract fuelling the exodus from NHS dentistry in England. [1]
A recent temperature check survey of dentists in England from the BDA underlines the need for fundamental reform. Following recent tweaks to the NHS contract just 1% of dentists say they are likely to increase the volume of NHS work they do. Almost two thirds (63%) say they will reduce it.
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said:
“You will struggle to find a dentist in this country who thinks the answer to the crisis in NHS dentistry is more tweaks at the margins.
“Ministers don’t need another lesson in how to fill a leaky bucket.
“We won’t halt the exodus from the NHS without turning the page on twenty years of failed contracts and savage cuts.”
[1] See: Priorities for NHS England Dental Contract Reform, by the Association of Dental Groups (ADG)
