NHS Dental Costs Rise By GBP60 Million

Tue, 08 Jan 2008

NHS dental fees soared during 2007 even though the number of patients fell, new figures have revealed.

The figures show that while 266,000 fewer patients saw an NHS dentist in 2006/7 compared with the previous year, dental patients paid out an extra £60 million in NHS charges (15 per cent rise) compared to 2005/6 in the wake of the new contract .

The introduction of the new system has left the majority of the UK public confused over NHS charges according to patients' representatives as official figures show that patients were forced to pay an average of £16.91 each in NHS dental charges in 2006/7, compared with £14.58 the year before.

However, the increase in payments has not been able to stop more than 500 dentists leaving the NHS in the past 18 months, forcing more patients to enter the private sector.

Shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "These statistics make a mockery of Labour's promise that the new charges would not lead to patients paying more for NHS treatment ."

Lansley accused the government of "shamelessly milking patients" in an effort to cover up its lack of investment in dentistry . "We have now got less access to NHS dentistry, fewer resources for dentistry and higher charges," he added.

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, commented: "To hear that those patients lucky enough to find a dentist are being charged even more for it really beggars belief."

"We hear from parents who cannot find someone to carry out orthodontic work on their children, we hear from patients who find themselves referred by an NHS dentist to a private colleague. These people are in despair," she added.
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