Where Does Dentistry Lie In The New Health Secretary’s In-Tray?
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- Published: Monday, 28 June 2021 08:07
- Written by Chris Tapper
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The dental challenges that the newly-appointed Secretary of State for Health faces in his new role have been outlined on the BBC’s television news programme, Politics London by the British Dental Association’s Shawn Charlwood.
Sajid Javid took up his new role after the resignation of Matt Hancock following the exposure of his extramarital affair with an aide by the Sun newspaper, after an illicit clinch with his aide Gina Coladangelo, was filmed on CCTV cameras in a Department of Health and Social Care corridor.
Dr Charlwood, Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee told presenter Samantha Simmonds “What we need is a clear road map out of the restrictions that were having to work under.”
Regarding fallow times, he said “We just cannot see the number of patients that we would like to see, and we need a relaxation.” He said the profession needed a “Clear road map” out of the current crisis.
Dr Charlwood said “We also need some support financially in terms of ventilation. Dentists in the other three nations all had financial support. English dentists are still waiting, and NHS England have been much too slow on this.”
Dr Charlwood said dentists needed support long-term. “And I mean by that we need something by next April. We need a new contract for NHS dentists. He added “The NHS dental contract was failing before COVID and it is in complete meltdown at the moment.”
“Patients aren’t able to access care. NHS dental teams are in crisis and there are problems all over the country including London, in terms of recruiting dentists to NHS practises, and most importantly retaining dentists and their teams. The industry will continue to wither on the vine.
“There is 30% less in real terms spent on NHS dentistry than a decade ago. That cannot be right.”
There was some delight expressed on social media on the announcement of the change of Secretary of State.
Chair of the BDA, Birmingham-based Dr Eddie Crouch welcomed Mr Javid’s appointment in a tweet. Mr Javid represents the neighbouring Midlands constituency of Bromsgrove.
Congratulations @sajidjavid on your appointment Looking forward to meeting you and as a local dentist informing you of the problems in Dentistry both locally and nationally
— Eddie Crouch (@EddieCrouch) June 26, 2021
But Mr Javid made it clear on Twitter after the announcement, that the pandemic was a major priority.
Honoured to have been asked to serve as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at this critical time.
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) June 26, 2021
I look forward to contributing to our fight against the pandemic, and serving my country from the Cabinet once again.
There was some hope on social media that the appointment of a new Health Secretary would help resolve the NHS dental crisis.
Mr Hancock’s much called-for resignation ended a three-year reign in the Department of Health which had attracted widespread criticism as a result of a number of controversies, particularly of late.
Much public criticism focussed on Mr Hancock’s ‘hypocrisy’ in flouting social distancing rules which he publicly encouraged the rest of the population to follow.
On his resignation, he said “Those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and that’s why I’ve got to resign.”
Among Mr Hancock’s social distancing gaffes was slapping a colleague on the back in the House of Commons in June 2020. He reportedly broke the Government’s own COVID drinking curfew in the following October.
In February of this year, The Guardian reported that Labour MP’s accused Mr Hancock of insulting health professionals after he claimed there was “Never” a national shortage of PPE in the early days of the pandemic.”
Earlier in June, Boris Johnson’s former political advisor Dominic Cummings published apparent correspondence between him and Mr Johnson in which the Prime Minister appeared to call the health secretary “Totally f*****g hopeless.”
Mr Hancock appeared to have an uneasy relationship with the dental profession.
In January 2019, the Daily Mirror ran the headline “Health Secretary backs private firm profiting from patients who can’t get an NHS dentist.”
The Mirror said “A firm profiting from patients who cannot get to an NHS dentist because of cuts is being endorsed by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.”
“MyDentist targets areas with big shortages of Health Service practices and offers more expensive private work.”
Visiting one of its surgeries in the rural market town of Mildenhall, Suffolk, The Mirror reported that Mr Hancock said “Companies like MyDentist play a really important role in delivering a good service to keep our nation’s teeth strong.”
The paper said “Half of all NHS surgeries are closed to new patients because of a Tory funding crisis, it is estimated.”
In December 2020, the British Dental Nurses’ Journal reported that fourteen MP’s, including Hilary Benn, had signed an open letter to Mr Hancock urging him to take immediate action to deal with the developing dental crisis in some of the country’s worst-hit areas.
At the time, new analysis had projected that around eight million people across England would be waiting for NHS treatment at Christmas.
In June 2020, as dentistry tentatively reopened after the pandemic shutdown, the BDA also issued an open letter to Matt Hancock calling for urgent support for NHS dentistry to keep the service afloat and “Avert a likely collapse in patient access.”
The letter said “Barely 8% of practices now estimate they can maintain their financial sustainability longer term, in the face of sky-high overheads and lower patient numbers. We need the conversation to be realistic about how an NHS service, forced to operate to a contract based on activity, can operate in a context where previous levels of activity are impossible.”
But in December 2020 it appeared the BDA’s plea had been ignored when it published on the BDA News website that it had disputed claims by the Health Secretary that agreement had been reached over a new series of targets “Now facing NHS dental practitioners in England.”
The BDA said “Following negotiations, the dentists’ union has refused to sign up to the deal - based on delivering 45% of pre-pandemic activity - on the basis it will be unachievable for the majority of practices that still face tight COVID restrictions that limit patient throughput.”
BDA Chair Crouch said "Today the Secretary of State for Health claimed agreement has been reached over targets for NHS dentistry.”
"There has been no agreement, nor could there be. The facts are government will be imposing targets that will threaten practices and undermine patient care.”
That plea appeared to be largely ignored after the new UDA targets for 2021 were imposed earlier in the year.
Mr Hancock’s deputy, Jo Churchill hasn’t fared much better in her relationship with the profession in recent weeks, having enraged the profession when she dismissed the role of dental professionals in detecting signs of oral cancer in patients as ‘ad hoc.’
One experienced dental commentator told GDPUK “This is a very limited reshuffle just involving the Secretary of State. The implication is that Jo Churchill will stay on as the junior minister with the dental brief.”
Regarding Mr Javid, he said “As an ex-Chancellor, he understands the Treasury, although that doesn’t guarantee more money.”
Jo Churchill also has experience in working with the Treasury, working as an Assistant Whip for 18 months, from January 2018 to July 2019.
Mr Javid will undoubtedly face pressures from the hard-pressed dental sector of the NHS. Head of BDA Indemnity Dr Len D’Cruz said on Twitter in reply to the Health Secretary’s tweet:
NHS dentistry has been the Cinderella in the NHS , ignored and overlooked .Underfunded for years and facing real crisis with patients struggling to get access for dental care -bring in much needed contract reform by April 2021 PLEASE @TheBDA @NHSEngland
— Len D’Cruz (@len_dent) June 27, 2021
With headlines like “Former chancellor Sajid Javid returns to top of politics but faces an ’enormous’ in-tray” (Sky News), the new Secretary of State will have to prioritise, and it would be difficult from the outside, to see where dentistry lies in the ‘in-tray.’
Within a few hours, the Eastern Daily Press gave the Health Secretary its “Wish list for Norfolk and Waveney,”calling for “A new hospital, funding for more mental health beds and improving dentistry - those are among the priorities we urge the new health secretary to deliver for Norfolk and Waveney.”
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