Dentists express reservation over new contract system

Dentists express reservation over new contract system

	Published : Sat, 01 Apr 2006 18:55 By : Amy Watts Print this Story

LONDON: There is mounting reservation among dentists in signing new contracts and this may impact dental treatment available under the NHS.

The British Dental Association indicated that most of its constituents have expressed their desire to give only provisional agreement to the contract, retaining their right to contest the terms. This can lead to dentists resorting to private practice and refusing to treat patients on the NHS. Dentists are already on short supply under the NHS in some parts of the country.

Dentists wanting to continue with the NHS were expected to return the contracts signed by Friday and the contracts to take effect from 1 April.

The new contracts are part of reforms planned in dental treatment, which puts local primary care trusts in charge of dental funding. In order to meet the shortages, the government has recruited foreign dentists and opened more dentistry schools. It is estimated that there are now 21,000 dentists in the country, up from 17,000 in 1997.

However, dentists have expressed their dislike for the new contract, which provides for them to complete a target amount of work in order to get a fixed income.

The main cause of their anxiety is a new charging system under which the existing 400 separate charges are to be simplified into three price bands. The lowest NHS charge will be 15 pounds for an examination and report, a 10-pound increase, but the highest charge will be 189 pounds, which is 200 pounds less than the existing top charge. The middle band charge of 40 pounds will cover one to six fillings, previously priced at 10 pounds to 12 pounds each.

The dentists claim the system leaves little time for preventive work and is confusing. Instead of payment for each piece of work, they say they will be given a guaranteed income based on previous workload.

Health minister Rosie Winterton claimed a "vast majority" of dentists were signing up the new contract. She said a majority of them believed this is a good contract as a dentist with a high commitment to the NHS can earn on an average around 80,000 pounds a year plus practice expenses, which is guaranteed for three years, for five per cent less work.

According to the NHS Confederation, primary care trust chief executives have predicted that 6 per cent of dentists will stop providing free NHS treatment for adults over the next 12 months and 5 per cent will withdraw NHS treatment for children.

The confederation, which represents NHS managers and trusts, said the new contract is intended to provide better rewards for preventive work and less for actual treatment and there are benefits for dentists in the contracts.

The confederation believes that the contract would need to be reviewed every year.

A poll of 855 people by consumers' association Which? revealed that more than three-quarters of the people thought it would become harder to find a dentist under the new arrangements. Four out of five said they did not trust the government to improve dentistry in the next year.