NHS Digital has headlined its NHS Dental Statistics, England 2021-22, with the news that 16.4m adults were seen for NHS dental treatment in the 24 months up to June 2022.
No commentsRead more: BDA Calls Out The Spin After Latest NHS Statistics For England Are Released
The fear of mistakes, confrontation and complaints top the list of worries for early career dentists according to a new survey by Dental Protection.
Could family doctors follow dentists out of the NHS?
Many of those reading this will not remember “NHS glasses”. There was a time when primary care optical services were provided mainly within the NHS, by independent contractors.
Read more: The NHS Dominoes Are Falling, Is It Now Time for GPs?
With so many patients around the UK unable to get dental appointments, practice managers and recruiters now have two new problems to contend with. These could hit the numbers of badly needed Foundation Dentists (FD) and Dental Care Professionals (DCP).
Throughout the access crisis most of the government responses to questions about dentistry have come from junior ministers. So, it was unusual for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care himself to offer some detail on Government thinking.
A cost of living time bomb, resurgent inflation, the threat of blackouts, drought, war in Europe, and an absentee prime minister have failed to keep dental access stories from the headlines.
Read more: A Couple's Experience Of Dental Access Crisis Sparks Petition With Over 270k Signatures
The General Dental Council has said that the number of UK registered dental care professionals ‘remains stable’ following the July 31st renewal deadline.
Complaints have poured in from NHS patients in Shetland after NHS Shetland warned that it may have to consider charging patients for missed appointments.
As the dental profession basks in ‘90% of NHS practices are closed to new patients’ headline coverage broken by BBC News and conjugated throughout the media recently, the Shawn Charlwood, Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee has issued an apocalyptic warning: “NHS dentistry is at a tipping point. If we’re not there already, we’re reaching the point of no return”.
Read more: "Have We Reached The Point Of No Return?" Charlwood Throws Down the Gauntlet