Report due on dental care changes

A review into the way dental services in England should change for the better is due to be released shortly.

This independent review was ordered by ministers, and addresses some of the continuing problems regarding access to NHS dentists. The report will also look at finding of dentists, and ways to ensure high-quality standards of NHS dental care.

A spokeswoman of the British Dental Association said that addressing these problems was ‘vital’ both for doctors and patients.

A dental contract, introduced in April 2006, for the attempt to widen access for NHS patients proved highly unpopular with both the dental profession and the public. Since then, figures have shown that 1.2 million fewer patients have visited a dentist in England in two years compared to figures since the contract was introduced.

Criticism has also stated that dentists have less incentive to perform complex surgery now that they are being paid a flat salary. These treatments fell by 45% in the first year following the reforms. Scotland and Northern Ireland were not covered by the new contract, and there complex treatments rose.

The report is being led by Professor Jimmy Steele who states the team ‘shall make the recommendations we feel we need to make’ in order to provide better dental services.

Chair of the British Dental Association, Susie Sanderson, said that there have been problems in accessing a dentist, and with preventative care, since 2006. She also praised the report for its ‘openness’.