‘Normal for Norfolk’, Dentists Get Bad Press
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- Published: Tuesday, 02 April 2024 09:02
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Every so often the recent favourable reporting about the profession shows signs of fatigue. Two recent stories, both from a well-known dental desert, show that the present positive view of GDP’s cannot be taken for granted.
Pensioner Peter Hewitt has carried out a one man protest outside a Dereham practice. Mr Hewitt, 76, demonstrated outside the practice as, according to The Eastern Daily Press, he believes they owe it to locals to provide an NHS dentist for pensioners to access free dental treatment.
Responding, the practice CEO said that it "appreciates the concerns raised by the protesting patient" and said it was "actively working towards solutions that will benefit everyone."
Mr Hewitt said he has been visiting the dentist for “the past 15 years as an NHS patient” but claims the practice does not currently have an NHS dentist on site. He wanted to have lost fillings replaced and when he sought free treatment, as a claimant of pensioner credit, he was offered private care.
“I’m not happy with them as I feel they are not doing enough for the NHS patients, they should care for us,” he said. “I do not want to be pulling my teeth out with a pair of pliers,” he added.
The Dereham practice said it had been trying to recruit an NHS dentist for the past two years without success. Dr Jin Vaghela, CEO and founder of Smile Clinic Group commented on the situation. He said that they were recruiting NHS dentists and collaborating closely with NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care System (ICB) for support. He also said that, "We firmly believe that NHS contract reform is paramount to the future of NHS dentistry."
Meanwhile Mr Hewitt added that he has looked around other practices in the county but is struggling to find anywhere taking on new patients. He said that while he was outside the dental practice he received support for his demonstration, with people “honking their horns, people shaking my hands, and giving me a thumbs up".
The Norfolk and Waveney area has the largest ratio of NHS dentists for patients, with one for every 2,776 people, and some of the highest rates of dental problems. Despite the scale of the crisis, a recent analysis showed that a total of £17m - more than a quarter of Norfolk and Waveney’s allocated NHS dental funding - is not being used this year.
At the same time, also in Norfolk, the Norwich Evening News published a possible answer to the access crisis. In an opinion piece in the paper Ian Smith wrote that if dentists could not be persuaded to voluntarily return to the NHS that “some degree of force” needed to be applied.
Mr Smith’s analysis of what had gone wrong was less controversial. He pointed out the role of the 2006 contract in constraining the opening of new NHS practices and the perverse incentives of the UDA system. He also name checked the CQC and “faceless civil servants.”
He then went on to describe private practices as seeing “fewer patients for more money.” There was no mention of quality or time. According to Mr Smith, “the dentists who have remained in the NHS because they feel obliged, or the area they are working in does not lend itself to charging the extortionate amounts of money we see and hear.”
“The big question is what can be done about it?” he asked.
His answer was that if dentists cannot be persuaded voluntarily to return to the NHS, then some degree of force needs to be applied.
“The simplest answer would be to make it a condition of remaining on the dental register is that they have a minimum of 1,000 NHS patients who must be kept dentally fit.”
He then went on to suggest a “computer programme” to show how many NHS patients were on the register for each practice. Given that 40% of the population are irregular attenders he felt that this measure would solve the current problems.
Another suggestion was that “Dentists should qualify for a cash bonus if 96pc of their NHS practice are dentally fit at year end, rising if the number exceeds 1000, and the financial reward should be considerable enough and tax free.”
Warming to his theme he also believed that as the 2006 contract would now become irrelevant, “the huge number of civil servants who control NHS dentistry would now not be necessary, saving the Treasury a considerable sum of money.”
Better still, “This would remove the need for practices to employ managers who were employed because of the huge amount of administration required since the 2006 contract. This would lower practice costs dramatically.”
At the foot of the article it was noted that, “Ian Smith is a retired NHS dentist having practised in Norfolk for 45 years.”
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