The National Health Service (NHS) has announced that it will temporarily increase the remuneration that dentists receive for treating patients who need it most, as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the NHS dental system.
The move was an emergency measure introduced quickly after the Mirror’s “Dentists for All” campaign revealed that the NHS had an incentive imbalance.
Writing in the Mirror, Health Secretary Stephen Kinnock said: “The Labour government has once again taken up the responsibility of providing the care that everyone deserves, not just those who can afford it.” He criticized the Conservative Party’s management over the past 14 years for putting NHS dentistry in serious trouble.
Currently, dental contracts in the UK operate through the so-called “Units of Dental Activity” (UDA) system. But this system has been criticized by the Parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee as “outdated”.
Under current regulations, clinics must complete a certain number of UDAs, otherwise they face financial penalties. For example, a dental check-up counts as one UDA, while a filling may cost three UDAs, and dentists receive the same remuneration whether they fill three teeth or 20 teeth.
At Fairfield Dental Clinic in Devon, head Rob Mew described the absurdity of the current system. He said: “We were charged ￡150,000 by the NHS for helping patients prevent tooth decay and reduce unnecessary treatment. We serve 19,000 NHS patients, more than ever before, but were fined for ‘too little treatment’.”
To address this problem, the NHS announced a time-limited “care pathway” plan to allow dentists to receive more reasonable compensation when faced with clinically complex cases. At the same time, the government also sought opinions on a series of longer-term reform proposals, including:
Provide additional funds for special treatment for patients with severe gum disease or at least five decayed teeth;
Increase funding for denture repairs;
Reform the unreasonable UDA system to encourage preventive care rather than treatment-oriented.
The announcement of these reforms means that the NHS dental system has taken a key step towards a patient-centered, fair and preventive direction.