“A service on the brink”

Without reform NHS dentistry will go from crisis to collapse

Following yesterday’s debate in the Scottish Parliament the British Dental Association has urged the Scottish Government to deliver meaningful reform to NHS dentistry by the autumn, stressing failure to do so will take the service from crisis to collapse.

On Tuesday Ministers announced a ‘bridging payment’ – originally due to lapse on 1 April 2023 – which uprated NHS fees by 1.1 would continue to October 2023. With spiralling costs BDA Scotland has continued to stress that the traditional high volume/low margin model NHS dentistry works to was now unsustainable and removing the payment would push practices to bankruptcy or into the private sector. 

Despite needed progress on this extension, BDA Scotland warns a new sustainable model must be in place by 31 October, otherwise the extension will only delay the inevitable. Practices are already facing the risk of providing care that involves laboratory work – like dentures – at a loss.

NHS dentistry in Scotland has not returned to anything resembling business as usual. Recent data has indicated claims submitted by NHS dentists for dental work are 43% down on 2019 levels and suggest a growing exodus from the NHS workforce.

David McColl, Chair of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee said: “There was little need for a debate on whether NHS dentistry in Scotland is in crisis. On access, on workforce, on inequalities, wherever data exists it points to a service on the brink.

“The Scottish Government made the right call by not prematurely pulling the plug on vital support.

“The question is now whether come October we’ll have the reforms needed to give this service a future. Failure to do so will take us from crisis to collapse.”