New measures aiming to improve urgent dental care have been announced as part of a government consultation on NHS dentistry.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched a major consultation today [8 July] to expand care provisions in NHS dentistry. The consultation will last for six weeks, closing on Tuesday 19th August.
Reforms include making newly qualified dentists work in the NHS for a minimum period – set to be three years – and rolling out an additional 700,000 appointments each year. The plan focuses on the provision of emergency care, aiming to address the immediate needs of patients in pain.
This comes as more than one in four adults are struggling to access NHS dental care, with satisfaction at an all time low. Health Minister Stephen Kinnock acknowledged this, describing the NHS dental system as “broken” and “in crisis”.
“To get us to a place where patients feel NHS dentistry is reliable again, we have to tackle the problems in the system at their root,” he continued.
Currently, it is less cost effective for dentists to take on patients requiring extensive treatment including crowns, bridges, and dentures. The reforms aim to tackle this by introducing a new course of treatment for patients with extreme gum disease or with tooth decay on over five teeth.
To incentivise dentists to take on more complex cases, the government plans to increase funding for denture modifications and to establish a requirement for dentists to deliver a set amount of urgent and unscheduled care each year.
Kinnock said: “These reforms will bring common sense into the system again, attracting more NHS dentists, treating those with the greatest need first, and changing the system to make it work.”
A nationwide ‘Golden Hello’ scheme aims to recruit more dentists, with measures to make dental staff feel more rewarded, incentivised, and a bigger part of the NHS also being introduced.
Kinnock: NHS dental system is broken
Children’s dental hygiene will be prioritised through preventative measures. Statistics reveal that 22.4 per cent of five-year-old school children have experienced obvious dental decay.
To tackle this, measures include applying fluoride varnish on children’s teeth and making better use of tooth resin sealants for children with a history of dental decay. The government has also introduced a national supervised toothbrushing programme for children aged three to five in the UK’s most deprived areas. This should ease pressures elsewhere in the NHS, with tooth decay being the most common reason for hospital admissions in children between five and nine years old.
The DHSC’s latest measures form part of the government’s Plan for Change. This includes a ten year Health Plan which aims to benefit millions across the country through a more streamlined and prevention-focused NHS.
Discussing the Plan for Change, Kinnock said these reforms are “essential” to “building an NHS fit for the future and making sure poor oral health doesn’t hold people back from getting into work and staying healthy”.
