Wong: Recovery Plan 'Nowhere Near Enough'
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- Published: Tuesday, 13 February 2024 21:44
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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As clinicians and would be patients digest the detail of the government’s Dental Recovery Plan (DRP) which was announced last week, a growing consensus that it ’didn’t go far enough’ was potentially doused in rocket fuel as a social media comment by Jason Wong, the Interim Chief Dental Officer emerged on Tuesday evening (February 13th).
Mr Wong, who is also a Partner at the Maltings Dental Practice in Grantham, Lincolnshire, was being quoted last week for giving the DRP a warm welcome. But according to the Mirror newspaper, Mr Wong has since sided with a comment by a dentist on Facebook who was critical of the Plan, specifically over its failure to confront the failings of the UDA based contract.
Referring to the DRP, a dentist posted “Sadly I do not see this as a positive step. It is obvious that anything less than the abolition of the unworkable UDA (units of dental activity) system is a total waste of time.”
Mr Wong replied: “That attitude got no change at all for 16 years. I don’t disagree with the sentiment of its abolition but I have no levers to achieve that. In the meantime, driving any change is not a waste of time, so on that I disagree with you. I do agree it is nowhere near enough.”
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting leapt on Wong’s comment and magnified it. Sharing the Mirror article on his ’X’ (formerly Twitter) account, Streeting proclaimed "Confirmed: NHS dentistry will remain out of reach for millions as long as the Tories remain in office".
Mr Wong told GDPUK that " Someone screenshotted a question someone asked me on FB. Not on a forum". The Mirror, which is campaigning for ’An NHS Dentist for Everyone’ was sent a copy of the screenshot and it approached NHS England for comment.
An NHS spokesperson said: “The DRP is an important milestone for dental services across the country, and the NHS recognises that this work must go hand in hand with long-term reform of dentistry services given the significant challenges facing the service – and this is exactly the point that Jason Wong was making.
“To achieve this the health service has committed to working with the profession and Government on what further changes can be made to improve this important service for patients.”
For many who have left the NHS, the UDA system was the motivating factor. The trigger. For many of the thousands who remain, it undermines their morale, adversely distorts their approach to patient care and cramps patient access.
Mr Wong has rightly pointed out the positives in the DRP, such as they are. But as long as the UDA system remains intact, more dentists will walk. As a general dental practitioner himself, Mr Wong knows this. He knows that the DRP is therefore "nowhere near enough". And he is to be applauded for saying so.
Jason Wong issued a riposte to the Daily Mirror on X.com:
Poor reporting this. I fully support the recovery plan & my foreword explained which parts in particular. Clue is in the name “recovery” plan. I was discussing contract reform with colleague said it was not enough to achieve that. Didn’t say this won’t work! https://t.co/JMNvU0PKP6
— Jason Wong (@JasonWong12) February 14, 2024
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