Morale crisis threatens future of NHS dentistry

The report, ‘Dental Working Hours – Motivation Analysis’, collected survey responses from more than 6,000 self employed primary care dentists across the UK. 

The findings show that morale has fallen since 2012/13, across the UK nations.

Taxable earnings for NHS dentists have fallen 35 per cent in the last decade, while the costs of compliance have been estimated to have increased by over 1000 per cent. The widely discredited target driven NHS contract introduced in 2006, in England and Wales, is still in operation, with no clear dates for rollout of a replacement. 

The BDA is currently engaged in a research project on burnout within the dental profession and dentists’ wellbeing at work.

Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, chair of General Dental Practice at the BDA, said, "A wholly avoidable crisis of morale has left half of all NHS dentists looking for the exit, and puts the future of the service in jeopardy.

"In every part of the UK we are seeing the same story. A collapse in earnings without parallel in the public sector, oppressive regulation and contracts that fail both colleagues and patients are all taking their toll.