New analysis of NHS dental contract data explores whether UDA values vary according to provider group size. Peter Ingle takes a look.

Oralytics recent publication and analysis of UDA values and other information about NHS dental contracts has been an eye-opener for many NHS GDP contractors. The large volume of data explored by analytics platform Oralytics has prompted considerable discussion on GDPUK and other platforms.

Individuals have tended to look at specific localities, perhaps to see how UDA rates compare in their own area. The resulting information may provide reassurance, a degree of satisfaction, or leave the reader feeling shortchanged, depending on how their own practice fares.

To date, there has been little published systematic analysis, prompting GDPUK to ask Oralytics whether the data could be analysed to compare UDA rates between the larger corporates and independently owned practices.

While the resulting picture is complex, Oralytics identified 15 types of group owners. Some headline figures include the number and distribution of contracts and the mean UDA values.

Number and distribution of contracts

In 2024-2025, there were 6,761 contracts in England. Of these, 5,964 were categorised as ‘independents’ - that is, individual or small groups under private ownership. The remaining contracts were grouped into ‘large corporates’ – typically backed by private equity – one ‘large family-owned group’ with 50 contracts, and mid-size groups with 15 to 25 contracts, alongside smaller groups.

It should be borne in mind that the figures here relate to NHS contracts rather than share of the total market or number of sites, performers or surgeries. An extreme example would be Portman Healthcare, which has more than 370 practices across the UK but just two GDS NHS contracts in England.

MyDentist, the largest UK corporate, has around 600 practices across the UK. In 2024-2025, it had 392 English NHS contracts. Given recent trends, these numbers may well have changed with some corporates seeking to increase private work and, in some cases, closing predominantly NHS practices where challenges around staffing or viability pressures became overwhelming.

Mean UDA values

With a total UDA allocation of just over 8 million UDAs, MyDentist’s mean value is £35.33. This is a little under the average across all ownership types, which is £36.22.  Two of the mid-sized groups, Together Dental and Colosseum Dental, have somewhat better mean rates of £38.33 and £39.67, respectively. These figures will represent the combined values of a number of contracts with differing values and are likely to reflect, in part, prevailing UDA values at the time the practices were acquired.

In contrast, the mid-sized group Genix Dental has a lower mean value of £32.25. This figure is skewed by a few particularly low-value contracts, as illustrated by their median value of £34.15. In contrast, less than 60p separates Together Dental’s mean and median values.

It is worth noting that when many of these practices were purchased by the larger corporates, their business models were more focused on NHS work. The practices that most corporates sought during their period of heavy acquisitions tended to be mixed or heavily reliant on the NHS, and those with a higher UDA value may have been more desirable.

The range of mean UDA values is, in some respects, relatively narrow. But because UDA values were originally set according to historic work patterns rather than location or practice costs, even these variations are difficult to justify more than two decades later.

And the UDA values seen in some PDS contracts make these GDS variations look insignificant, as GDPUK will report in a forthcoming article.