Backbench Business debate on access to NHS dentistry

Backbench Business debate on access to NHS dentistry

During the Backbench Business debate on access to NHS dentistry, led by Melanie Onn MP (Lab, Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes), attracted cross-party participation, and provided an opportunity for MPs to raise concerns from their constituents, highlight the impact of the limited access crisis across the country, and call for action from the Government to secure the future of dentistry.  

Ahead of the debate, we sent a briefing to 138 MPs which outlined the current challenges faced across the industry, including insight directly from our member dentists and our key recommendations to address these issues, such as; recognising the mixed model approach to dentistry, the role of mixed dental practices in improving access to care, consulting with the whole dental sector with the upcoming 10-Year Plan for Health and empowering practices to utilise the whole dental team.  

Following a recent meeting between Catherine Rutland, one of our Practice Advisor’s and Dr Chambers, MP for Winchester, at their practice in Hampshire, we were encouraged that he explicitly challenged the idea that dentists are to blame for the crisis, highlighting the financial unsustainability of NHS provision, and making the case for a shift towards preventative, holistic care, alongside contract reform.  

During the debate, the issues voiced consistently were; 

• The NHS contract is broken, with it widely being described as ‘unfit for purpose’ and outdated. There was less agreement about what was needed from a new contract.  

• Local access crisis / dental deserts  

• Strong cross-party support for supervised toothbrushing  

• Continued workforce challenges with many unfilled roles across all registrant groups 

• The lack of financial incentive for practices to deliver NHS care, which often leads to a significant loss. 

Karin Smyth, Minister for Secondary Care, responded to the debate on behalf of the Department, reiterating the Government’s commitment to deliver 700,000 additional urgent NHS dental appointments annually, rolling out supervised toothbrushing programmes, and pursuing long-term reform of the NHS dental contract. She reconfirmed that contract reform proposals are under development, and that preventative care and workforce planning would be core elements of the upcoming 10-Year Health Plan. While she recognised the role of dental therapists, dental hygienists, and dental nurses - this remained largely top line and lacked detail on how the wider team would be empowered to work to full scope. 

You can read the full transcript here  

We will be continuing to follow up with those who received our briefing and spoke in the debate and continue to champion the needs of the sector on behalf of all our members.