
Described as ‘a complete break from precedent’, the Welsh government has offered NHS dentists a 6% pay increase in exchange for meeting four conditions.
On 21 January health and social care secretary Jeremy Miles addressed a letter to NHS dental contract holders announcing the pay uplift. It said the 6% pay rise was dependant on the following conditions:
- Every non-orthodontic dental contract holder to repeat the antimicrobial audit undertaken in 2023/24, compare with previous findings and discuss with practice staff to improve antibiotic prescribing. This should be completed by the end of June 2025
- All dental contract holders to fully participate with the Welsh National Workforce Reporting System (WNWRS) including updates at least quarterly
- Contract holders to record patient NHS numbers on forms submitted to NHS Business Services Authority. Patients must be asked for their NHS number and appointment reminders should instruct patients to have their NHS numbers available
- All practice held waiting lists are to be transferred to the Dental Access Portal by the end of June 2025.
The British Dental Association (BDA) said the 6% increase ‘still translates into a pay cut’ as it fails to account for ‘the soaring costs of delivering NHS care’.
‘A spectacular display of bad faith’
Russell Gidney, chair of the BDA’s Welsh General Dental Practice Committee (WGDPC), said this was ‘a spectacular display of bad faith from the Welsh government’.
The letter says that ‘the WGDPC have rejected all offers on the grounds that 6% is not sufficient to meet the DDRB recommendation on dentist’s pay
and are not willing to negotiate further’.
However Russell Gidney disputed the suggestion that the WGDPC was responsible for delays to the pay increase. He continued: ‘The sole authors of record-breaking delays on pay are based in Cardiff Bay. For the very first time ministers have sought to tie the hands of demoralised dentists. They made pay rises conditional on signing up to changes that will underpin a programme of reform that could sink this service.
‘This forces colleagues to sign up to a deal that failed to keep pace with soaring costs. It should come as little surprise to the Welsh government that no health professional is going to roll over and welcome a pay cut.’
An ‘opportunity to fill the gaps’ in Welsh dentistry
A recent Senedd debate emphasised the issues currently facing NHS dentistry in Wales. Siân Gwenllian, member of the Senedd (MS) for Arfon, referred to the severity of access troubles as a ‘dental crisis in north Wales and beyond’.
Conservative MS Sam Rowlands said: ‘We know dental services in north Wales are broken and they need to be fixed. It’s not good enough at the moment.’
Gwenllian said there was an ‘opportunity to fill the gaps’ by building a new dental school in Bangor to train more dentists and dental care professionals.
There is currently only one dental school in Wales, at Cardiff University. The new proposal would establish a dentistry course at Bangor University, where a medical school was opened in September 2024.
Siân Gwenllian added: ‘A dental school in Bangor would be one other piece added to the jigsaw of establishing Bangor as a centre of excellence for health in Wales. I therefore call on the Welsh Government to commission an outline strategic case for establishing a dental school in Bangor.’
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