Dentists: Ministers need to fix broken payment system

‘Dentistry in Scotland is still light years away from business as usual‘

The British Dental Association has responded to new figures showing the number of claims for payment made to dentists for NHS treatments have fallen by more than 50% in some health boards since 2019.

It stresses the Scottish Government must rapidly move forward to fix the broken payment system at the heart of the service.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats analysed the number of NHS dental claims in all 14 health boards between 2019 and 2022. The analysis revealed that:

• Across Scotland the number of NHS dental claims fell from 5,583,137 in 2019 to 3,184,858 between January and November of 2022
• NHS Dumfries and Galloway saw a 55% drop in NHS dental claims, with claims falling from 139,988 in 2019 to 62,481 between January and November of 2022. 
• NHS Orkney saw a 64% drop in NHS dental claims, with claims falling from 20,149 in 2019 to 7,175 between January and November 2022. 
• NHS Shetland saw a 53% drop in NHS dental claims, with claims falling from 15,873 in 2019 to 7,510 between January and November 2022.
• All 14 health boards saw a decrease in the number of claims submitted between 2019 and the first eleven months of 2022.

The BDA say that while COVID emergency measures have been withdrawn, practices continue to face of an historic backlog, with many patients requiring more extensive treatment having bottled up problems during the pandemic. 

On 1 October the Scottish Government cut the ‘multiplier’ designed to support the pandemic recovery, that increased NHS fees by 1.3. A lower bridging payment’ took effect uplifting NHS fees at a rate of 1.2 for the next three months, falling to 1.1 for the period up to April 2023.

Dentist leaders stress that in the months ahead progress must be made to deliver needed change to the broken high volume/low margin model NHS dentistry is based on. Without reform, this package will simply delay an inevitable exodus of dentists from the NHS that is already evident in other UK nations. 

Facing surging practice running costs, the BDA says that without an adequate interim funding package several key treatments, and anything – like dentures – that requires laboratory work, risk being delivered at a financial loss. 

Robert Donald, Chair of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Council said:  “Dentistry in Scotland is still lightyears away from business as usual. 

“Ministers pledged free NHS dentistry for all, but to keep that promise they need to fix a broken system. 

“Dentists are struggling, facing demand that can’t be met, with some NHS treatments already being delivered at a loss. They need to know that come April they will see real change, not just see the last safety net pulled away.”