BDA: PM must show he’s serious with NHS recovery plan
NewsPosted by: Dental Design 20th December 2023
The British Dental Association has said the PM must deliver on his leadership election pledge to ‘restore’ NHS dentistry with the much-delayed recovery plan.
In response to the Commons Liaison Committee this afternoon the PM said the plan, first pledged in April and widely expected before summer recess, would come in 2024, although he would not commit to a date.
“It will be in the new year,” he said. “Obviously there’s £3 billion that’s been invested in NHS dentistry with a reformed contract which is helping.” The BDA stress the PM has no credible basis to cite a budget largely unchanged in a decade and tweaks to the failed contract fuelling the exodus from the service as ‘progress’.
News follows the Government’s failure to sign up to fundamental reforms proposed by the Health and Social Care Committee, and Nuffield Trust research that suggests universal access to NHS dentistry is effectively gone for good.
In her forward to the response to the Committee’s damning inquiry, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins stated the Government’s ambition that “NHS dentistry should be accessible and available for all those who need it.” The BDA has accused the Government of failing to offer any concrete plans in its response to achieve that goal, or even the more modest ambition of preserving what remains of the service.
The professional body understands the recovery plan has faced blockages at the Treasury. It says the Government must give demoralised dentists a reason to stay in the NHS.
British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch said: “The Prime Minister pledged to ‘restore’ NHS dentistry. Tweaks to a failed contract and a budget that’s unchanged in a decade won’t deliver that. We need real ambition. After eight months of waiting, this ‘Recovery’ Plan needs to pass the Ronseal test. It has to give dentists thinking twice about their futures a reason to stay in the NHS. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
