The British Dental Association (BDA) has responded to news that the Department of Health and Social Care has dubbed a below-inflation pay rise of 3.5 per cent as “affordable” for doctors and dentists next year.
The BDA, alongside the British Medical Association, recently called for sweeping reform of the pay review process. The professional bodies stressed that ministers have routinely interfered in the Review Body for Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB) processes as a matter of course, imposing public sector pay freezes and pay caps, and arbitrarily defining NHS 'affordability' each year.
The Health and Social Care committee is currently holding an inquiry into NHS dentistry
Eddie Crouch, British Dental Association chair, said, “This service is haemorrhaging talent by the day, and with inflation soaring a miserly 3.5 per cent pay rise will clearly take its toll.
“The government’s blind pursuit of affordability risks undermining the pay review process and the very sustainability of NHS dentistry in this country.”