As a Daily Mail report reveals that ninety per cent of NHS practices are closed to new patients, regional media coverage continues to highlight the desperate state of access in many parts of the UK affecting both dentists and patients.
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The self-employed status of associates may have survived for decades, but there have been regular threats. A recent court case will be of interest and the judgment has potential wide-reaching implications for thousands of dentists.
Read more: New Case Threatens Employment Status Of Associates
The heavily publicised £50 million pounds additional funding for dentistry that was announced earlier this year has turned out to be nothing of the sort. It seems likely that £25 million or less will have been spent, and that this will have bought far less than the claimed 350, 000 appointments. Much of this reduced spend has occurred outside the GDS.
Read more: Now You See It, Now You Don’t. The £50 million NHS Dentistry Trick
The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) has announced the winners of two annual awards that recognise vision and endeavour in the field of paediatric dentistry.
Read more: Dental student and lecturer win prestigious prizes for children’s dentistry
At a time when more and more dentists look to early retirement and there is much talk of exit plans, one dentist has well and truly bucked the trend.
The BDA has issued a statement (14th June) cautioning the profession that any announcements on dental contract reform made before the Parliamentary summer recess were likely to be ‘only modest, marginal changes to the current discredited target-based NHS dental contract.’
As petrol prices climb towards £2 a litre and domestic energy bills become eye wateringly expensive, many practice owners and private Associates are nervously pondering how the cost-of-living crisis will impact on their practices and personal earnings.
Read more: Oral Health Charity Report Predicts Turbulent Times
A call for the dental profession to ‘walk away’ if NHS England doesn’t commit to abandoning the UDA as a measure of dental activity, has been rejected by delegates at the Local Dental Committee Annual Conference.
If the Government doesn’t invest significant funds in NHS dentistry, the only way to run a satisfactory NHS dental system would be to adopt a core service, the Annual Local Dental Conference has been told.