The Conservative government has admitted there are “geographic shortages” of dental care as it comes under increasing pressure from MPs over how it will tackle the backlog in the nation’s oral health.
MPs from Conservative and opposition parties have repeatedly asked the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over the last two weeks for its plans to ensure people can get treatment they need.
Their calls come as statistics have begun to lay bare the severity of the issue across England.
Last month, Healthwatch England reported that NHS dental waiting lists have soared during the pandemic with people being forced to wait up to six weeks to get an emergency appointment.
Health & Protection also revealed the number of NHS-registered dental practices fell by almost 13% in the five years leading up to the coronavirus pandemic.
And NHS figures showed around 19 million fewer NHS dental treatments were conducted between March and October 2020 compared to the previous year.
‘Addressing geographic shortages’
Responding to Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby Robert Goodwill about the available dentist workforce, health and social care minister Jo Churchill admitted there were some shortages.
“While available data suggests the number of dentists providing NHS services in England is sufficient, the interim NHS People Plan commits to addressing geographic shortages,” she said.
“We are working both on improving career pathways and the current dental contract.
“In the summer, Health Education England will publish the report of their Advancing Dental Care programme which has explored opportunities for flexible dental training pathways and the department will publish a report on the learning from dental contract reform programme.”
The department has also asked NHS England and NHS Improvement to work with the British Dental Association to bring forward proposals.
Urgent treatment centres
Shadow Home Office minister and Labour MP for St Helens North Conor McGinn also asked what action the government has taken.
Churchill replied that during the pandemic more than 600 urgent treatment centres had been opened to support the delivery of urgent care and explained changed made to contracting procedures.
“NHS dentists have been asked to maximise safe throughput to meet as many prioritised needs as possible, focussing first on urgent care and vulnerable groups, followed by overdue routine care,” she said.
“This has been underpinned by the requirement for dental providers to deliver 60% of contracted units of dental activity and 80% of units of orthodontic activity for the first six months of 2021/22 in order to receive full payment of their NHS contract value.
“Guidance has also been issued by NHS England on the use of flexible commissioning to target restricted dental capacity to those patient groups that most need support.”
However, these payment measures have been criticised by MPs for being unattainable with calls for better targeted financial support instead.
Wait for Spending Review
However it appears any increase in funding for more dentist training will be reliant on a further government spending review.
Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport minister and Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell also asked about expanding dental training positions over the next five years.
Minister for health and social care Helen Whatley noted the number of dentistry school places is regulated by the government with Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for postgraduate dental training.
“Government funding for any potential future expansion in dental training places would be dependent upon workforce planning requirements and the outcomes of a future Spending Review,” she said.
“The government is committed to ensuring the number of dental training places is in line with England’s workforce requirements and continues to monitor the effectiveness of the current arrangements.”