BDA reacts to ‘modest’ increase from DDRB
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- Published: Wednesday, 09 March 2016 07:28
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The BDA has responded to the Review Body (DDRB) award of a 1% pay-rise for dentists for 2016/17. GDPC chair, Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, said: “This modest uplift will leave many dentists struggling to provide needed investment in training, equipment and materials.” Robert Donald, Scottish Dental Practice Committee chair said: ““For Scottish GDPs ‘more of the same’ means a deepening crisis of morale, and an inability to deliver investment in practices.”
The Review Body recommendation was announced in a Government statement:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nhs-staff-to-receive-1-pay-rise
It said that dental contractors will receive a 1% uplift for pay next year, but ‘their overall contract uplift will be determined following consultation with the British Dental Association on business expenses.’ The DDRB had declined to confirm an overall uplift for GDPs – by sidestepping the matter of expenses, according to the BDA. Pay for associates is not covered by this announcement, but is a matter for negotiation with individual contract holders.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The government has made clear that pay restraint in the public sector continues to be a crucial part of its plans to reduce the deficit. It is because of a strong economy the government is able to invest an additional £10 billion a year by 2020 to support the NHS’s own plan for the future.”
The BDA said that the DDRB report had ‘once again failed to recognise’ the impact that the 25 per cent decline in dentists' real incomes since 2006 has had on investment within the service. GPs have also received a 1 per cent pay uplift, but with an additional £220 million of capital investment.
The report has also recommended that salaried dentists who received a 2 per cent non-consolidated payment in 2015-16 - and who have not since moved on to a new pay scale point - should, in 2016-17, receive a non-consolidated payment equivalent to 1 per cent of their basic earnings.
Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC), said: “Dentists take home pay has fallen by 25 per cent in a decade, and these recommendations do nothing to change that dangerous direction of travel. The DDRB has avoided the chronic need for investment in NHS dentistry, and has not acknowledged GDPs' mounting expenses. This modest uplift will leave many dentists struggling to provide needed investment in training, equipment and materials. The DDRB believes that their remit is remuneration, not investment, but Ministers know our pay packets serve both purposes. An already over-stretched workforce is still having to plug the funding gap in NHS dentistry, and we now require a clear signal from government that it is prepared to share the burden. We recognise that pay restraint is a reality, but government under-investment is a choice. Failure to act will have lasting consequences for oral health provision in Britain.”
BDA Scotland has also responded to the DDRB report.
Robert Donald, Chair of the Scottish Dental Practice Committee said: “We are disappointed but not surprised by DDRB’s recommendations. A 1 per cent pay uplift does nothing to address – let alone reverse – the huge drop in income for GDPs that has occurred over the last 5 years. For Scottish GDPs ‘more of the same’ means a deepening crisis of morale, and an inability to deliver investment in practices. At present we have to pay for improvements out of our own pockets, and not a single penny has been earmarked to improve equipment, premises or training. Our patients deserve and expect quality care, and these are the foundations it is built on. To run an effective service we require either fair pay or fair funding. At present we have neither.”
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