Are NHS charges masking cuts and driving patients to GPs?

Patient charges were first introduced in 1951, to lower demand for NHS dental services. The BDA has dubbed the charges a “tax on health” that mask real cuts in the service and discourages the patients most in need of care.

Nearly one in five patients has delayed treatment for reasons of cost according to official statistics.

Recent academic studies show 600,000 patients – over 11,000 per week – are choosing to head to their GPs, who are not subject to charges but are unequipped to provide dental treatment. The BDA estimates these appointments cost the NHS over £26m a year. 

Dental charges in England increased by five per cent this year, and are set to rise by a further five per cent in 2017, alongside further falls in state funding for NHS dentistry. BDA projections show that unless ministers change course, patients will be contributing a full third of England’s NHS dental budget through charges within the lifetime of this parliament – and are on course to exceed government spending by 2032.

Patients in England already pay far higher charges for basic care and contribute a larger share of the dental budget through charges than their counterparts in the devolved nations – whose systems have become less reliant on charge income over the last decade. The BDA is now sending information posters to over 8,000 NHS dentists across England to help canvas feedback from patients on the future of the charge.