The British Association of of Private Dentistry (BAPD) has expressed concerns over ongoing and changing support measures for all NHS dental practices via the following statement:
When face-to-face dental care resumed for Primary Dental Services on 8th June 2020, dental practices offering NHS dental care benefited from 100% of their NHS contract values in return for a minimum of 20% of activity with no immediate abatement and no Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) monitoring.
This generous financial support package was exclusively for NHS dental practices, the criteria being:
- patient care activities were to re-commence;
- practices were open for face-to-face care, adhering to contractual hours with reasonable staffing levels for NHS services in place, and performing the ‘highest possible levels of activity’, with no undue priority being given to private activity over NHS activity.
We note that yesterday the British Dental Association has expressed its concerns that the output for NHS dental Practice will rise to 45% (pro rata) of the expected Q4 performance of Units of Dental Activity, and that this will apparently put many practices under pressure to achieve such a high target and that it will compromise patient safety.
On the 17th November 2020, the NHS Business Services Authority received a Freedom of Information request from the British Association of Private Dentistry (BAPD), requesting specific information regarding the aforementioned patient care activities. On 15th December, they responded with a detailed spreadsheet for both England and Wales for the financial years 2019 and 2020. This is available here.
This data speaks for itself.
In addition, other support measures for all NHS dental practices (specifically excluding private dental providers) include the provision of free PPE and supply of test kits for the proposed twice weekly rapid antigen tests for all NHS dental staff (approximately £200/week for a practice with ten staff) are all provided at the taxpayers’ expense, yet we are seeing an enormous reduction in patient access evident from the disclosed figures above.
The apparent waste of public monies funding this massively reduced level of primary dental care provision is, in our considered opinion, a national scandal and must surely result in an urgent and comprehensive public enquiry. As taxpayers and professionals we are extremely concerned at the way in which these figures will undoubtedly be reported in the mainstream media when they inevitably reach the public domain, and we wish to distance ourselves from the furore that will ensue.
No other dental business has been able to receive funding on this basis, and extent, throughout the pandemic; on behalf of our members, we can only feel grateful for the manner in which private dental practices have stepped up to face the many challenges that this year has brought, preventing an even more onerous reduction in patient access to primary dental care than we are presently seeing.
