Dentists 'forced to take holiday' because of NHS cash crisis

13 April 2012

Dentists are being forced to take holiday to avoid treating patients because the NHS has run out of money in some areas.

The scandal reveals how the Government's reform of NHS dentistry has failed patients and dentists just a year after the controversial shake-up.

Nine out of 10 dentists claim the new system - which has gone £120 million over budget - is on the point of collapse.

A survey by the British Dental Association (BDA) to mark the first anniversary of a controversial contract for dentists found it failed to achieve any of the Government's stated aims.

Around 85 per cent of dentists believe it has not improved access to NHS treatment for patients - backed up by the Government's own figures - and 93 per cent of dentists say the system does not encourage a more preventive approach to care.

In the first six months of the contract calls about dental problems to the 24-hour helpline NHS Direct shot up 43 per cent, it has been revealed.

Some parts of the country are "dentistry deserts" of access to NHS care, according to a Citizens Advice survey.

The research comes after official figures showing the number of adults seen by an NHS dentist has dropped by 69,000 in the last year, with 11,000 fewer children now getting NHS care.

Many dentists were unhappy with the new contract, which stopped them charging for each procedure in a bid to promote a more preventive approach to patient care.

At least 2,000 are thought to have quit the NHS in disgust.

Around 5,000 NHS practices - one in four - are treating too many patients too quickly and being told by primary care trusts (PCTs) to delay treatments to save money.

At NHS Dentist, a practice in west London that treats only NHS patients, seven out of eight dentists have been sent on holiday because local health chiefs can't afford to meet the costs of treating more patients.

Lead dentist Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen said the practice is a victim of the new contract, which started last April, because local budgets have not kept pace with demand.

He said: "The problem lies with the system. The Government used what was happening a few years ago to work out the budget, but since then we have expanded and now we are being penalised."

Susie Sanderson, chairman of the BDA's executive board, said the contract needed radical revision, with scrapping of the "crude" Unit of Dental Activity used to measure performance.

She said many people believed the world of NHS dentistry had gone "topsy-turvy" in the last year. She said: "Who can blame them when dentists who want to take on more NHS patients are left turning people away because PCTs can't or won't fund expansion. "Or when dentists who have been committed all their working life to NHS dentistry, go private - because they feel they'll be compromising their patients' care if they don't. " And the world really does seem topsy-turvy when the Department of Health and PCTs appear to be more concerned about finding ways to avoid embarassing queues, than actually grappling with the issues that cause them."

Earlier this month it was revealed that Gordon Brown has been treated at a £100-an hour clinic, prompting six other cabinet ministers including Tony Blair to insist they were looked after on the NHS.

Shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley said the Tories told the Government one year ago that the new contract would be a costly disaster for NHS dentistry, and it had gone £120 million over budget.

He said "We have some dentists in the absurd situation of being forced to go on holiday instead treating their patients.

"Yet because Patricia Hewitt can't admit to her mistake and refuses to listen to the thousands of dentists and patients who have told her that the new dentist contract isn't working, we all have to watch on as fewer patients get treated through the NHS and the morale of dentists sinks to an all time low.

"Once again, the Government's abject failure to estimate the cost of a new contract has punched a black hole in NHS finances of tens of millions.

"Patricia Hewitt cannot try to blame this on her predecessors, as she did over the GP contract. This appalling failure happened on her watch."

Health minister Rosie Winterton defended the system, saying it had to operate fairly to ensure that dentists who planned their work to last all year were not unfairly penalised.

She said: "If some dentists get through their contracts more quickly, even though it is based on what they had done the year before, it really isn't fair on the thousands of other dentists who have planned their work properly so that they can carry out their work throughout the year.

"It is not fair on the thousands of other dentists who are planning their work properly, or on the areas where there have been traditional shortages, to be able to say 'if we get through all our work early, you will have to give us more money.'"

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