DDRB report published: BDA says dentistry is ‘on the brink’
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- Published: Wednesday, 29 March 2017 07:41
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The British Dental Association (BDA) has said underinvestment in dentistry is bringing NHS services to the brink, as the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) announced its recommendation of a below inflation pay uplift of 1% for dentists in 2017/18. The BDA said that the report had ‘comprehensively failed to recognise the impact that a collapse of 35% in earnings since 2006 has had on investment in dental practices.’
NHS dentists in England have not received any direct capital investment in recent years, while GPs have continued support through a five-year £900m fund, with an additional £56m fund for practice resilience, including support for GPs suffering burnout and stress.
The BDA has lamented the underinvestment and lack of government strategy and action on oral disease. Recent analysis from the Royal College of Surgeons has shown a 24% rise in the number of tooth extractions performed on 0-4 year olds in hospitals in England over the last decade.
Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, the BDA’s Chair of General Dental Practice said: “At the same time that child tooth extractions are surging, the government seems intent on making NHS dentistry unsustainable. Dentists have seen a 35 per cent drop in earnings in the past 10 years. Today’s uplift does nothing to address – let alone reverse – a drop that’s already impacting on our ability to deliver the improvements in facilities, equipment, and training our patients deserve.
“We’re living in uncertain times with the fall in the value of the pound, the rise in the cost of materials and the spiralling costs of regulatory compliance, and all compounded by the chronic underinvestment in NHS dentistry. This is a devastating blow for dentists’ morale; and these deep and sustained cuts have long ceased to be a question of ‘pay restraint’ or ‘efficiency savings’."
Wales
The Welsh government has confirmed high streets dentists will be offered a 1.44% increase, in expectation they will seek further efficiency savings. The report has also recommended that salaried dentists receive a 1% pay increase in 2017-18.
BDA Wales has dismissed the notion that Welsh dentists can achieve any further efficiencies. Unlike GPs, NHS dentists in Wales do not receive additional support to deliver needed investment in practices. Both associates and practice owners in Wales have seen taxable income fall by 35% in real terms over the last decade.
BDA Wales has argued that there was no justification for the recent NHS dental charge increases, particularly given that dental contract ‘clawback’ (penalties incurred if dentists don’t meet stringent government targets) by Health Boards has doubled in the last two years, short-changing NHS dentistry in Wales upwards of £6 million in 2015-16.
Katrina Clarke, Chair of the Welsh General Dental Practice Committee, said: “If the Welsh Assembly is serious about improving the nation’s oral health then it must start by putting its money where its mouth is instead of relying increasingly on inflated patient charges to fund NHS dentistry. NHS dentistry in Wales is being stretched to breaking point. We are already facing a recruitment crisis, and even more worryingly we are seeing practices closing thereby making it harder for patients to access dental care. There is no further scope for savings, and this increase will not stop more practices closing. NHS practices increasingly cannot balance the books given the spiralling costs of running dental practices.”
The full DDRB report can be read here.
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