A scheme meant to spice up entry to NHS dentists underneath the final authorities seems to have “comprehensively failed”, MPs have mentioned
Launched in February final 12 months by Conservative well being ministers, the Dental Restoration Plan promised to introduce 1.5 million new therapies for sufferers and provided dentists a “bonus” to take NHS sufferers.
In line with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the scheme seems to have “resulted in worsening the picture” greater than a 12 months later.
Below the Dental Restoration Plan, practices have been provided a brand new affected person premium (NPP) – which the PAC discovered value a minimum of £88m because it was launched and resulted in 3% fewer new sufferers seeing an NHS dentist.
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2:07From 2024: Dentists to be provided incentives
The plan’s “golden hello” recruitment scheme had additionally been discovered to have appointed fewer than 20% of the anticipated 240 dentists by February this 12 months.
Their report, printed in the present day, additionally mentioned weak sufferers “continue to suffer the most” and that the dental contract “remains unfit for purpose”.
Present preparations are solely enough for about half of England’s inhabitants to see an NHS dentist over two years, it added.
The PAC report additionally mentioned “it does not appear” that NHS England or the Division of Well being and Social Care “have a sense of what level of funding would provide a realistic incentive for dentists to prioritise NHS work”.
‘NHS dentistry is broken’
PAC chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown mentioned: “It’s totally disgraceful that, within the twenty first century, some Britons have been pressured to take away their very own tooth.
“Final 12 months’s Dental Restoration Plan was supposed to deal with these issues, one thing our report has discovered it has signally did not do.
“Almost unbelievably, the government’s initiatives appear to have actually resulted in worsening the picture, with fewer new patients seen since the plan’s introduction.”
He added: “NHS dentistry is damaged. The federal government may hardly fail to agree on this level, and certainly I’m glad that it isn’t in denial that the time for tinkering on the edges is over.
“It is time for big decisions.”
A Division of Well being and Social Care spokesperson mentioned the Labour authorities “inherited a broken NHS dental sector” and was fixing it via its Plan for Change.
It mentioned that in February, it had delivered on its manifesto pledge by rolling out 700,000 further pressing appointments and pledged to introduce a brand new supervised toothbrushing scheme for 3 to five-year-olds.
