Dental care in Northern Ireland faces an 'existential threat' from 'insulting' fees for dentists, says trade union

A report by the Nuffield Trust, made public this morning, claims that NHS dentistry is in the grip of a "widespread crisis" which requires a “huge injection” of funding.

Analysis by the think tank found total spending for dental services was £3.1 billion in 2021/22, a decline of £525 million since 2014/15.

In a statement co-inciding with today’s report, Nuffield Trust chief executive Thea Stein said “we need to see immediate action taken to slow the decay of NHS dentistry, but it is increasingly clear that we can no longer muddle through with an endless series of tweaks" to the system.

The Nuffield Trust is a UK-wide body headquartered in London, and provides research into the health service to try and influence politicians.

In response to today’s Nuffield report, Tristen Kelso, national director of the BDA in Northern Ireland (a registered trade union) has told the News Letter that the same grim analysis applies across the Province too, where the system faces “an existential threat” with many professionals “looking for the exit”.

In addition, the News Letter has seen a copy of a letter sent late last month by the BDA to the top of the currently-ministerless Department of Health in Northern Ireland saying “there is an obvious and urgent recruitment and retention problem” in dentistry, with independent operators having seen a “massive pay erosion” over the last dozen years.

Most general practitioners “see no correlation between the costs they incur on a daily basis to provide modern dental care and the fixed, wholly inadequate, and – when viewed against the requirements of practice – frankly insulting fees which the health service sets”.

In short, the BDA letter says, “it is our clear assessment that health service dentistry has run out of road”.

In Northern Ireland, some people can get free dental care: pregnant women, those on benefits, and under-18s among them. Most others have to pay 80% of the dentists’ fees for each treatment.

The Nuffield report today makes a number of short and long-term recommendations for the UK government to consider.

They include short-term resolutions such as increasing the intervals between routine check-ups to one year, recruiting dental therapists from the private sector, investing in preventative care for young people and targeted work in schools and care homes.

In the long-term, the Nuffield Trust called for the introduction of a fee-for-service payment model and student loans forgiveness scheme for dentists.

Shawn Charlwood, chairman of the BDA's general dental practice committee, said the Nuffield report "reads like the last rites for NHS dentistry".

It comes as Labour reveals plans for a dentistry rescue plan if it comes into power.

It has pledged to fund 700,000 more urgent appointments, incentives for dentists to work in areas with the greatest need, and supervised brushing in schools for three to five-year-olds, particularly in areas with high levels of tooth decay.