Confidence In Scottish Dental Market But BDA Concerned
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- Published: Monday, 04 July 2022 07:17
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Only days apart, two significant announcements about Scottish dentistry have illustrated the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
Firstly came the news that Scottish Dental Care had acquired two practices in Edinburgh. Scottish Dental Care is a family owned group already running 15 practices. Founded in 2016 by brothers Philip and Christopher Friel it offers a full range of NHS, private and cosmetic treatments. The two new practices, St Johns Road and East Craigs, were bought from Hew Mathewson CBE and his family, who had been built them up over the last 45 years. These practices too, offer a complete range of dental care including NHS and private treatments. Both Philip Friel, and Hew Mathewson are dentists, with Hew having been the last elected president of the GDC.
The purchase was a first acquisition in the Scottish capital for Scottish Dental as well as the first deployment of recent growth funding from BGF. BGF, set up in 2011 is a minority non-controlling equity partner in a variety of businesses including technology and consumer goods as well as healthcare.
Christopher Friel, Managing Director of Scottish Dental Care, said: “Acquiring these practices represents a continuation of our growth plans, with the extension of our Advanced Dentistry brand into Edinburgh. We are proud to take forward the legacy developed by Dr Mathewson over the years, and we look forward to working with the fantastic practice teams as we progress on that journey.
Only days later the BDA Scotland have described NHS dentistry as, “on the brink.” Against a decline of over 5% in the number of high street dentists in Scotland since the pandemic, the Scottish government has announced that the fees multiplier for NHS care will reduce from 1.7 to 1.3 for the next 3 months. There was no dialogue with the profession despite the BDA’s requests. Going forward, there is concern that the multiplier will be completely abandoned soon.
David McColl, chair of the BDA’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee, said “Ministers are playing with fire, pulling away the life support from a service millions depend upon.” He added that, “Cuts have consequences. The Scottish government promised free dentistry for all. Short sighted policies like this will likely result in the exact opposite, and stark oral health inequalities will only widen further.”
English dentists retaining NHS contracts may still be looking enviously at their Scottish colleagues after an almost simultaneous announcement from NHS England. Linked to the latest NHS dentistry and oral health update, a ‘Dear colleagues’ letter has announced that UDA targets will be back at 100% for the forthcoming quarter.
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