Austerity policies and cutting NHS fees drove dentists to taking on much more private work but GPs are unlikely to follow this path, according to Laing Buisson director William Laing.
Speaking at an event organised by Westminster Health forum, Laing told delegates that while he did not believe there had been a deliberate attempt to privatise high street dentistry, dentists had the freedom to offer their services to NHS funded or privately funded patients.
Laing added that significant cuts to the fees available for NHS dentistry meant that 59% of the value of dentistry was now privately funded.
“What has driven that was a decision taken after the austerity policies were introduced to seek to save money in a whole variety of ways,” Laing continued.
“What happened then was a significant cut in the level of the fees available for NHS dentistry. That’s what triggered dentists to move en masse to private provision rather than NHS provision.”
But in the subsequent question and answer session, Laing said he did not think GPs would seek to set up their own private practices.
“Private GP services are pretty small and it’s very difficult for an NHS GP to set themselves up as a private provider,” Laing explained.
“Because what the contract says is that you’ve got to provide the private services completely separately from your NHS practice and that even involves different premises.
“It has never worked. There are a small number of people who are well enough to be able to afford private GP services but it is limited. Consultants are able to work easily in the private and the public sector at the same time – GPs are not.”