COVID-19: Update on NHS dentistry and the pandemic
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- Published: Thursday, 10 December 2020 10:01
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CDO England has told practices that access to dentistry is ‘steadily increasing’, but he clinical priority remains the provision of urgent dental care. The BDA has published a report on LDC Officials Day where presentations took place on discussions that the GDPC has had with officials.
In her latest update[i] sent to dentists CDO (England), Sara Hurley, reports that access is steadily increasing and ‘the initial evidence from over the summer shows that the majority of treatments we are offering are tooth saving.’
She continues: “Our clinical priority remains the provision of urgent dental care. As we continue the transition to recovery of services and where practice capacity allows, we would increasingly expect practices to be actively recalling patients to resume interrupted care pathways and seeking to offer appointments to patients who normally attend the practice for care in terms of their risk.
“I recognise that there is a delicate balance in meeting patients’ needs against the restrictions of COVID. However, the statistics demonstrate the great efforts of the majority of practices in providing access and addressing a wide range of patients’ dental care concerns.”
LDC Officials Day
This event took place virtually on November 27 and was is reported on the BDA website.[ii] It was dominated by the impact of COVID-19 on dentistry and the issues surrounding the current UDA system of dental contracting. Reflecting on the challenges we’re facing, General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC) Chair, Dave Cottam said: “UDAs are not fit for purpose. The pandemic has exposed the failings of the UDA system more clearly than ever, and now is the time for commissioners to commit to some real changes. Dentistry needs more funding, to help keep us afloat during this crisis, but also to ensure our patients can have improved access to NHS dentistry going forward.”
GDPC Vice-Chair Shawn Charlwood’s presentation outlined the work of the committee over the past few months. This included the extensive and often difficult weekly meetings with NHS England about the contracting arrangements for dentists during the pandemic.
He said the continuation of the monthly contractual payments with no abatement was a very significant lifeline for many practices. It has enabled hundreds of thousands of patients to access care and ensured dental team members have been able to keep their jobs. However, the future for all dental practices is still very uncertain. Negotiations continue with NHS England on what the arrangements will be going forward for payments, and there is frustration that the process taking so long.
Shawn commented, “There has been a clear levelling-off of activity in practices during October and November, which shows any desire to increase activity by NHS England is unworkable, and we have made this case strongly to them. We know that UDAs were inappropriate pre the pandemic, and we know that they certainly are not appropriate during it.”
Tinkering of the current system is not a viable way forward. Shawn added: “We have called on NHS England to provide financial clarity for providers, so they can ensure their businesses stay afloat during this crisis. Going forward, we need a more flexible, transparent process of commissioning, to ensure we can deliver on patient access and practices can be sustainable.”
The GDPC feels going back to UDAs would be a wrong move on NHS England’s part and there needs to be more innovative thinking on the way forward. The ACORN process in Wales, which is trialing a different approach based on preventive care and needs assessments, was cited as an example of innovation. The results of this should be shared across the UK nations, to see what can be learnt.
The GDPC has also had several meetings with Ministers and other key stakeholders to put the profession’s views across, and they will continue to strongly make the case for dentistry.
[i] http://createsend.com/t/d-A406D504C5F5AA812540EF23F30FEDED?fbclid=IwAR3XBoafDx8AXQiBN3ikyUuDU0YRGdX6aB421AX2J8iUf7ELEvTNCB2ST44
[ii] https://bda.org/news-centre/latest-news-articles/innovative-thinking-needed-for-future-of-nhs-dentistry
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