Shared from the Evening Standard
The Government unveiled its £200 million plan to bolster NHS dentists in England last month. However, leading dentists said the recovery package will not be enough to help people struggling to access dental care. The Government said that the plan will “fund more than 1.5 million additional NHS dentistry treatments or 2.5 million NHS dentistry appointments”.
Just 3% of dentists believe that the Government’s dental recovery plan will result in them seeing more NHS patients, according to a new poll. A survey of 1,104 dentists in England found that 43% actually believe the proposals will lead to them seeing fewer NHS patients, while 54% said the number of NHS patients they see will remain the same.
A new poll by the British Dental Association (BDA) found that three-quarters (75%) of dentists do not believe that the plan will improve NHS access for new patients. More than nine in 10 (93%) said that the proposals are not sufficiently ambitious to meet the scale of the challenge facing NHS dentistry.
The dental recovery plan includes:
– £20,000 bonuses for dentists working in under-served communities.– Dentists being paid more for NHS work.
– A “Smile for Life” advice programme aimed at new parents and mobile dental teams being deployed to schools.
– The rollout of so-called “dental vans” in rural and coastal communities.
– Plans for the biggest expansion of water fluoridation in England since the 1980s.
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