Nine out of 10 NHS dental practices are unable to offer appointments to new adult patients, in the most extensive survey of patient access ever undertaken.
The British Dental Association (BDA) has pressed the government to step up and deliver urgent reform, as new research from the BBC underlines the scale of the access crisis facing NHS patients across the country.
Between May and July, BBC researchers reached out to every UK dental practice with an NHS contract to ask if they were taking on new patients. Working with the BDA, the BBC identified 8,533 dental practices across the UK that were believed to hold NHS contracts and attempted to call them all. The survey found:
- Across England, 91 per cent of NHS practices were not accepting new adult patients, 4,933 of 5,416, rising to 97 per cent in the East Midlands, and 98 per cent in the South West, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.
- Of those practices not taking on adults in England, 23 per cent (1,124) said they had an open waiting list, and 16 per cent (791) said the wait time was a year or longer or were unable to say how long it would be.
- Out of 152 local authorities in England, BBC researchers did not successfully reach any practices accepting new adult NHS patients in 56 (37 per cent) local authorities.
- In England, 79 per cent of NHS practices were not accepting new child patients, 4,293 of 5,416.
The crisis facing the service across England is being fuelled by a discredited NHS contract, which funds care for barely half the population and puts government targets ahead of patient care. NHS England recently announced modest, marginal changes to this system. However, dentist leaders say that the changes, which come without any new investment, will not address the problems patients face accessing services or keep dentists in the NHS.
Thousands of NHS dentists have left the service since lockdown. Last week the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee dubbed the contract 'not fit for purpose', called for urgent reform and pledged a dedicated inquiry into the crisis in the service.
The BDA has pressed government to stop 'rearranging the deckchairs' and to finally commit to a fair funding settlement and fundamental reform of the service as a matter of urgency. After a decade of savage cuts the BDA estimate it would take an additional £880 million a year simply to restore funding to 2010 levels.
Shawn Charlwood, chair of the British Dental Association's General Dental Practice Committee said, "NHS dentistry is at a tipping point, with millions unable to get the care they need and more dentists leaving with every day that passes.
"We're seeing the results of years of chronic neglect, set into overdrive by the pressures of the pandemic. The question now is will Ministers step up before it's too late?
"Nothing we've heard from government to date gives us any confidence this service has a future. Without real reform and fair funding NHS dentistry will die, and our patients will pay the price."
Iain Stevenson, head of dental at Wesleyan, the financial services mutual said, “Dentists are working tirelessly to support patients. But they’re battling an NHS contract that’s not fit for purpose, struggling to attract and retain staff and facing soaring operational costs in everything from energy to equipment.
“Simply, the sector isn’t getting the help it needs. The £50m funding injection announced by the government in January was a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of support required to make a real difference. Meanwhile, the changes made to the NHS England dental contract in July were just modest tinkering – window dressing that simply won’t, for the majority of dentists, transform a system that doesn’t pay them fairly for their work.
“This research paints a bleak picture. Dentists have been, and will continue to, go above and beyond for their patients, but they simply can’t do more than they currently are doing in this current system.”