Dental contracts to rise by 0.5%

The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley has agreed a national uplift for GDS contracts and PDS agreements in England of 0.5%. This is in line with the Government’s policy of no increase to net GDP pay this year. The rise is largely to fund pay increases for practice staff earning less than £21,000 a year, again in line with the Government's public sector pay policy.

A national uplift will be applied to gross contract values. It follows discussions with the General Dental Practice Committee of the BDA. It comes with an agreed package of changes ‘which will put better care for patients and more effective use of NHS resources at the centre of 2012/13 GDS contract changes’.

In a letter to GDPC’s John Milne the Chief Dental Officer Barry Cockcroft writes: “As part of this package, dentists will be expected to work closely with PCTs to prepare for moves to a national contract based on capitation, quality and registration; this includes a further move to fully computerised practice systems and a nationally consistent approach to contract management.

“The package includes the phasing out of UDA credits for prescription only courses of treatment, which are increasingly difficult to clinically justify, and secures an efficiency and productivity gain from primary dental care which is in line with the requirement for the rest of the NHS. As with other NHS efficiencies, every penny saved will be invested back into patient care, and thus will help to improve further the quality of patient services including primary dental care.”

 

 

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