According to newly-released NHS England data, more than one in five (21%) general dentist posts in the NHS were vacant as of March 2024.
This equates to almost half a million (495,774) days of NHS activity. Of all general dentist vacancies, 87% were found to be in the NHS.
The vacancy rate for NHS dental hygienists was 2% higher at 23%. However this equates to 98 unfilled positions compared to 2,749 for general dentists. NHS dental therapists also saw a high vacancy rate of 20%, amounting to 259 unfilled roles.
A high number of unfilled positions were reported for NHS dental nurses (1,161) but this was a much lower vacancy rate of 8%. It nevertheless equates to more than 170,000 days of lost NHS time.
Shawn Charlwood, chair of the British Dental Association’s (BDA) General Dental Practice Committee, said the figures were a sign of a ‘broken system’. He said: ‘Past governments pedalled workforce numbers that were a work of fiction. The reality shows just how deep the crisis in NHS dentistry goes.
‘A fifth of posts now stand empty, and every single vacancy translates in thousands unable to access care. We’ve had promises of reform, but a broken system will push dentists out of the NHS every day it remains in force.’
How many NHS professionals are working full time?
Of 25,659 respondents who were categorised as a general dentist, around 15,000 were working full time. Approximately 10,500 of these dentists were working the equivalent of full-time hours for the NHS, representing 70% of the full-time workforce.
Other than foundation dentists, the highest proportion of NHS full-time activity was carried out by orthodontic therapists at 83%. Of just less than 1,250 respondents in this category, 414 were working full-time equivalent in the NHS out of a total of 520 full-time workers.
Dental hygienists were the group with the lowest proportion of full-time work in the NHS. Of 5,782 respondents, 2,076 were working full time though just 321 or 15% within the NHS.
Are professionals leaving dentistry?
The data also explored the number of professionals entering and leaving roles in dentistry within a six-month period. For general dentists, the numbers were fairly similar with 1,929 joining the profession as 1,964 left.
However, the number of leaving dental nurses outweighed those joining by more than 700, at 2,223 compared to 1,503. Conversely 2,681 trainee dental nurses joined the profession while 1,746 left.
NHS England notes that the data does not distinguish between professionals leaving dentistry altogether and leaving one practice for a new role at another. However those moving between practices would be represented in both the joiner and leaver statistics.
How much chair time is given to NHS work?
Another section of the data explores the number of chairs in each practice and the percentage of time given to NHS activity. For example, the North East and Yorkshire region has an average of 4.2 chairs per practice, with 77% of chair time given to NHS activity. However this had reduced from 84% in both March and September 2023.
The South West had the lowest percentage of NHS activity at 60%, but the highest number of chairs per practice (4.7). Both figures had reduced from previous data, with the March 2023 figures showing 5.0 chairs per practice with an average of 70% NHS chair time.
NHS England also considered the days of the week when practices were open for NHS activity. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the surveyed practices were open for an average of 8.0 hours. This dropped to 1.3 hours on Saturdays and just 0.3 hours on Sundays. In the North West and South West regions, this figure stood at 0.1 hours on Sundays.
Follow Dentistry.co.uk on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.
