Conservatives Propose Reform Of NHS Dentistry

Thu, 21 May 2009

The Conservative Party has outlined plans for a complete overhaul of NHS dentistry in England in a bid to improve access to dental care .

The Tory plans, which are outlined in a document titled Transforming NHS dentistry, include reintroducing formal patient registration, rewarding preventive care given by dentists and a reform of the way dentists are paid.

Other new pledges from the Tories include fines for patients who repeatedly miss appointments, quotas to ensure newly qualified dentists work for the NHS for at least five years and a return to school screening for five-year-olds.

The party claimed two-thirds of primary care trusts (PCTs) in England no longer offer screening to primary school pupils and said they would fund the move using cash currently spent on "unnecessary treatments".

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Dentists are fed up with the flawed system of perverse incentives that Labour have introduced."

"We will make preventative treatment a real priority because we urgently need to improve our nation's dental health ."

Susie Sanderson, of the British Dental Association, said the 2006 changes had created "significant difficulties" for the profession and patients.

But she added: "In seeking to reform the system it is important that all patients are able to access dentistry and that dentists are able to provide the kind of modern, preventive care they are trained to give."

The government is also considering the changes. Ministers announced a review of dentistry last year after accepting many people were still struggling to get access to dental services on the NHS .
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