It is not unusual for the papers to carry stories about the poor state of the UK’s defences. Misfiring missiles, broken down rusty aircraft carriers, and the Ajax armoured vehicles now expected to arrive a decade late, over budget, and which in trials made their occupants deaf, are just some examples.
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A petition to ’Save NHS Dentistry and Make It Fit For The 21st Century’ has attracted over 199,000 of its target 200,000 signatures (at the time of publishing on 12th March).
As the GDC set about restricting live Fitness to Practise (FTP) hearings in the name of economy, there is another part of their budget that appears safe from cost cutting. The GDC are presently seeking tenders for a contract valued at £7 million to provide them with a particular strand of legal services.
NHS dental patients have been dealt a further hammer blow by a government announcement that patient charges are to rise by 4% from April 1st 2024.
Forty Two English Integrated Care Boards (ICB’s) are now able to influence how NHS dental funding is allocated in their area. Despite the constraints of what is still described as a “National contract,” there appears to be some flexibility.
Budgets are primarily about raising revenue. Not spending it. But how and what is raised ultimately determines what is spent. And after years of crying for additional funding, the 2024 budget left dental professionals who deliver NHS contracts feeling decidedly overlooked.