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New NHS dental practice to open

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A new NHS dental practice is set to open in Rochdale later this month which will create 9,500 places for new patients.

The Roch Valley Dental Practice will accommodate four/five new NHS dentists and the practice has been developed as part of a £1.3 million investment by NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale to improve access to NHS dentistry in the area.

Places will first be allocated to those already on a waiting list and then on a first-come, first-served basis.

John Pierce, Chairman of NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, formally opened the new practice.

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And the parrot says 'access, access, access......' I do hope the ongoing supply of taxpayer money continues after this summer.........

Posted by drstephenmorris 5/3/10 at 12:24

spot on dr stephen morris. But although the coffins are bare, do you still feel that the nhs dental budget can be cut post apr 2011, when the profession is so far disengaged with everything, it could lead to a total meltdown of nhs dnetistry. i personally don't feel that doh, govt etc can afford to start cutting anything in our profession although they have to cut back somewhere. think we might be saved?

Posted by steve 5/3/10 at 17:01

steve - IMHO nothing is 'safe'. If you were running the show, which gets cut? Eg childrens cancer services, or NHS dentistry? I suggest dentistry would be absolutely bottom of the 'save this' list. Every time.

Posted by drstephenmorris 6/3/10 at 00:07

Steve, drstephenmorris. What DOH might do is to lower the contract value (not the amount of UDA's in your contract) with DOH's recently published goal in asking the PCT's to strictly follow the NICE guidelines recall intervals, that would lead (The DOH hopes) to free more appointment times and more access for new NHS patients. So basically any provider will have to work harder to achieve the same contract value. Now some providers with a small contract might say to hell with all of this and get out. But what would happen to providers with say 15000-20000 UDA contract. My guess is that they will bite the bullet and accept a lower contract value and start to use their imagination to manipulate the contract in new ways to be able to achieve their targets. A cut in the contract value could lead to purchasing cheaper materials (more extraction forceps and less single use endo files!) Ultimately this contract is about cheap access to low quality dentistry. More dentists should come out and shout out that "the emperor is actually naked"

Posted by Frasse 6/3/10 at 12:51

Indeed, Frasse. I'm surprised much RCT is done in the NHS, to be honest. We have a tiny kids-only contract, 90% + is Denplan, a few private IOS. I'm really only a bored/cynical observer of the dogs-dinner that is NHS/GDS nowadays. Thankfully. I hope steve meant 'coffers', not 'coffins', BTW!? ;-)

Posted by drstephenmorris 6/3/10 at 16:17

Lucky you drstephenmorris. I,m very happy for you and your patients. You absolutely did the right thing. As for Endo done in the NHS, well if you deny the patients that, then you are in breach of your contract of course, but for those doing it i,m not sure about the actual quality of it. (Rubber dam, single use NiTi files + rotary files for 3 UDA's = max. 75 -80 pounds!! ) One thing is for sure and that is that Dentists are trying to do as few of them as possible.
Wish you all the best with your practice.

Posted by Frasse 7/3/10 at 03:32

i think that until the conservatives come and scrap the system, which they have already said they will do, if there are going to be cuts, which i am still not sure off then contract values will be squeezed and only the larger providers will survive. lower contract values ultimately translates to lower pay for nhs dentists, lower quality materials being used for pt's etc. and so much for the 'quality treatment' identified in the steele report!!

Posted by steve 7/3/10 at 16:45