There Is No More Money

There Is No More Money

Many dentists will not have heard of Professor Rebecca Harris. She is the Professor of Dental Public Health at the University of Liverpool, and Honorary Consultant in Dental Public Health, Liverpool University Hospitals. But that is not all. Following a mixed academic and NHS career she is now providing clinical leadership on Dental System Reform in England in her capacity as Deputy Chief Dental Officer.

A good leader stays away from the front line so perhaps it is no surprise that with a background in the Royal Army Dental Corps, the CDO has left it to Professor Harris to deliver some tough news to her depleted and demoralised troops.

Speaking at a recent influential Westminster Health forum, dedicated to dentistry, Prof Harris was the final speaker. Her presentation was entitled, “Next steps for dentistry and oral health in England.” The visual metaphors were strong with multiple images of staircases to underline the incremental nature of any changes to the dental contract. A number of key elements were clear, however. Two in particular will be crucial to those remaining in NHS practice, hoping for significant improvements.

Firstly there had to be an acceptance that contractual change can only go so far. And then, there was a fundamental assumption that funding will not change. Whatever the new scope or ambition of NHS dentistry may be, one thing is now clear, it will not be getting any more money.

Professor Harris finished her presentation with a slide showing a quote by President Obama, asking, “Do we proceed in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope.”

In the Q & A session, James Wild MP, Member, Public Accounts Committee, asked how optimistic Professor Harris felt about the reforms currently being considered. Her response emphasised that this would be a continuing process, and seemed to be mainly focussed upon expectation management.

Graham Allard, a former practice owner and GDP, who had earlier spoken of his struggles in delivering NHS care, asked how access problems could be improved without changes to funding. Professor Harris responded that these would need to be tackled “going forward” and that they would not be answered in the first phase of reforms.

Perhaps this does not matter anymore. The government has now perfected its approach of claiming to spend non-existent and time expired money, so there is no need to spend the real sort. In Parliament, both Sajid Javid, and Maria Caulfield, are still suggesting that the full £50 million announced earlier this year, had been spent and was still having an effect.

Meanwhile, hard pressed NHS dentists waiting for a better contract may be considering one of the American Presidents other memorable quotes, “You can’t always come up with the optimal solution, but you can usually come up with a better solution.”

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Anthony Kilcoyne
There is no more Money !!
Then please tell the Public loud and clear, a 50% service already over-stretched and facing 2 million missed dental appointments already, can only then be sustained through more cuts and long waiting lists.

If they only fund a half-service nationally at best in England, then they should be fully open, fully transparent and fully communicative to the public about this.

Dentistry is neither N or H or S available to all - it wasn't pre Covid either and it certainly isn't now without significant extra resourcing.

To pretend otherwise would be misleading the public, some may conclude by now ?!?

Yours clearly,

Tony.

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