Crisis in NHS Dentistry

42 cross-party MPs, including Peter Dowd MP have backed a campaign started by Virendra Sharma MP which calls on the Government to intervene and fix the growing crisis among NHS Dentists.

Following the breakdown in talks between NHS Dentists and the General Dental Practice Committee, the Government imposed activity targets which require dental practices in England to hit 45% of their pre-pandemic levels. In order for NHS dentists to reach this target, the cross-party group of MPs argues that patient footfall of non-urgent cases will need to increase substantially, unnecessarily risking the health of dental staff and patients alike.

The voice of the dental profession, the British Dental Association has already warned that many NHS dental practices will now face an uncertain future, as new evidence shows the January lockdown has left patients unwilling to keep appointments or seek care, and dentists incapable of meeting unworkable activity targets recently imposed by the Government.

In the Ealing Southall MP’s letter, he wrote “we pay tribute to the selfless work dentists in our constituencies and across the country have done throughout the pandemic, putting themselves at risk and providing world class care to their patients. We recognise that dentistry is a vital part of our NHS and believe that dental staff have gone above and beyond during the outbreak so far.

We believe that a target based on activity levels is wrong and urge you to intervene and reach a sustainable funding solution with the dental profession.”

Peter Dowd MP said: “My parliamentary colleagues and I are deeply concerned that the current situation may lead to practices across the country closing their doors to NHS patients, depriving our constituents of dental care at a time when the effect of reduced access to dental care is still being felt.

The Government must step in and broker a funding solution so that dentists and patients are not left worse off during this crisis.”