The NHS is opening up greater access to dental appointments for two months in the early morning and at weekends for hundreds of thousands of patients due to a £50m cash injection.
NHS England said the funding will secure up to 350,000 additional dental appointments during February and March in a bid to return services to pre-pandemic levels, however dentists believe this maybe unlikely.
Under the plans children, people with learning disabilities, autism, or severe mental health problems, will be prioritised as part of a dentistry treatment push over the coming months, with the one-off funding available until the end of the financial year.
Dentists participating in the scheme will be paid more than a third on top of their normal sessional fee for delivering this care outside of core hours, such as early morning and weekend work.
At a local level, NHS teams will use the funds to secure increased care capacity among local dentists already operating to help patients suffering from oral ill-health.
‘Struggle to find capacity’
However, while the British Dental Association (BDA) welcomed the “long overdue” additional expenditure it warned that there may not be enough time or capacity for it to make a difference.
BDA general dental practice committee chair Shawn Charlwood said: “Any additional funding is long overdue recognition of the huge backlogs facing NHS dentistry.
“After a decade of cuts a cash-starved service risks being offered money that can’t be spent. Hard-pressed practices are working against the clock, and many will struggle to find capacity ahead of April for this investment to make a difference.
“Until today not a penny of the government’s multi-billion-pound catch-up programme had reached dentistry. This is progress but must be just the start if we are to rebuild a service millions depend on.”
Charlotte Waite, chair of the BDA England Community Dental Services Committee, added that at the bare minimum the commitment to the additional spending recognises the needs of England’s most vulnerable patients.
‘Help with the recovery’
The breakdown of funding by region sees the North West receive £7,310,000, the North East and Yorkshire receive £8,633,000, the Midlands receive £8,904,000, the East of England £5,731,000, the South West £4,726,000, the South East – £6,887,000 and London £7,809,000.
Commenting on the investment, chief dental officer for England Sara Hurley said: “Dental services are a vital part of the NHS providing oral health care to all age groups, and that’s why we have taken this unprecedented action to boost NHS dental services.
“More than 600 urgent dental health hubs were rapidly ramped up during the pandemic to deliver urgent care for patients, and the NHS is now getting key services like dentistry back to pre-pandemic levels – injecting an extra £50m into routine services will help provide check-ups and treatment for hundreds of thousands of people”.
Minister for primary care Maria Caulfield added: “Access to NHS dentistry has been given a much needed boost with an extra £50m announced for NHS dental care services which will urgently give more people access to vital dental care when they need it.
“Through the pandemic, we have prioritised urgent dental needs, vulnerable patients and free treatment for children and thanks to the hard work of staff, the delivery of urgent care is back to pre-pandemic levels. We are now working with the dental sector to recover and reform services and this £50m boost will help with that recovery.”
