Following the publication of the NHS dental recovery plan and overseas registration changes, the government shares its intentions behind these proposals.
Last month, the long-awaited NHS dentistry recovery plan was released, with NHS England sharing new measures to tackle the current NHS dental crisis.
Shortly after this, the government shared its proposal to allow dentists from abroad to work in the UK without taking the overseas registration exam.
With these proposed changes sparking debate amongst the profession, the government has shared its intentions behind these plans and the impact it hopes they will have on the industry.
Here, Andrea Leadsom, parliamentary under-secretary of state for public health, sheds light on how the goverment plans to strengthen dentistry and improve access for patients.
Government response
Good oral health is essential to living a healthy life, which is why we’re determined to better support the dental industry and help practices take on new patients.
We know that to improve access for patients, we also need to improve conditions and incentives for dentists. In the last week alone, we have kick-started two major policies from our dental recovery plan that will help put the industry on a firmer footing.
The government invests £3 billion in the dentistry sector each year, and our new plan aims to make around 2.5 million more appointments available and ease the pressure on our highly valued dental workforce.
Cash incentives to take on new NHS patients
On Friday, the new patient premium took effect. Through this scheme, we want to encourage dentists to take on new NHS patients that haven’t been seen in the past two years.
We know that taking on new patients takes time, resources and expense, which is why we want to support you, while helping to improve access to dental care for patients.
Dentists who decide to opt-in to the scheme will benefit from extra additional payments of either £15 or £50 per patient, depending on the complexity of the treatment provided.
We expect this to help around one million new patients get access to treatment.
Strengthening our dentistry workforce
We also know that improving care for patients and easing pressure on our hard-working dentistry professionals depends on developing and retaining a strong workforce.
This is why we’re increasing training places by 40% by 2032 and making it easier for dentists who qualified overseas to practise in this country.
We’re proposing to cut red tape for dentists currently required to take the overseas registration exam (ORE) or the Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS), by enabling the General Dental Council to provisionally register those who obtained their qualifications overseas.
Our commitment to dentistry
Our dental recovery plan – backed by £200 million – should create 2.5 million more appointments and provide faster, simpler and fairer access to quality dental healthcare for patients across England.
We want to work with dentists to realise these ambitions, so I hope all in this vital sector will support our plans with the aim of delivering benefits for patients and dentists alike.
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