- The government has unveiled a £200 million plan to strengthen NHS dentistry
Only 3 percent of dentists believe the government’s dental recovery plan will lead to them seeing more NHS patients, a new poll has found.
A survey of 1,104 dentists in England found that 43 percent actually believe the proposals will lead to them seeing fewer NHS patients, while 54 percent say the number of NHS patients they see will remain the same.
The government last month unveiled its £200 million plan to strengthen NHS dentistry in England.
However, leading dentists said the recovery package will not be enough to help people struggling to access dental care.
A new poll from the British Dental Association (BDA) found that three-quarters (75 percent) of dentists do not believe the plan will improve NHS access for new patients.
Only 3 percent of dentists believe the government’s dental recovery plan will lead to them seeing more NHS patients, a new poll shows (Stock Image)
A survey of 1,104 dentists in England found that 43 percent actually believe the proposals will lead to them seeing fewer NHS patients (Stock Image)
More than nine in ten (93 percent) said the proposals are not ambitious enough to meet the scale of the challenge facing NHS dentistry.
The dental recovery plan includes £20,000 bonuses for dentists working in disadvantaged communities, dentists paid more for NHS work and a Smile for Life advice program aimed at parents.
There are also plans to roll out so-called ‘dental vans’ in rural and coastal communities and plans for the largest expansion of water fluoridation in England since the 1980s.
When the plan was unveiled, hundreds of people queued in Bristol after a dentist opened his books to new NHS patients on February 6.
Police were called to help manage queues where people stood for hours waiting to be listed for NHS care.
MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee will today question Health Secretary Dame Andrea Leadsom about the Government’s recovery plan for NHS dental services.
Hundreds of people queued in Bristol after a dentist opened his books to new NHS patients on February 6
The government said the plan will ‘fund more than 1.5 million additional NHS dental treatments or 2.5 million NHS dental appointments’.
But the BDA has called on the government to release the models behind the claim.
Shawn Charlwood, chairman of the British Dental Association’s General Dental Practice Committee, who will also give evidence to the committee today, said: ‘Checks are difficult to come by, but it will prove much more difficult for ministers to find a dentist who will support their bizarre claims.
“This profession has seen the twist.
‘Empty soundbites won’t stop the queues outside the practice, and unreliable statistics won’t waste time on ‘do-it-yourself’ dentistry.
“Bringing dentistry back into the 21st century requires real commitment, and frankly that is in short supply.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.