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NHS to get £28m to improve dental access

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Andrew Lansley has announced extra cash for dentistry in a major government drive to increase the number of people able to access an NHS dentist.

820,000 more people have already been given access to an NHS dentist since May 2010.

Today £28 million of funding will be announced, which will bring the number of extra people now able to access an NHS dentist to one million.

The funding will be given to PCTs, who have bid for the cash to spend on expanding local services in ways that best meet their patients' needs. This will include things like:

• Increasing the number of appointments with NHS dentists
• Providing care in people's homes for people who can't travel to see an NHS dentist.

Health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: 'Too many people still have problems getting to see an NHS dentist. Giving people back their NHS dentist is a key priority of mine so I am delighted that we have been able to find more money for dentistry because of our successful programme of efficiency savings in the NHS.

'This is a great example of how the money we are saving through better management of money, cutting bureaucracy and rooting out waste in the NHS is being reinvested in frontline services for patients.'

The extra funding is part of the government's drive to improve oral health and increase access to NHS dentists.

A key part of this is the government's commitment to replace the current dentist contract with one that supports dentists to improve oral health and increase access to services.

Alison Simpson, a dentist who runs a dental practice in Northampton said: 'This is fantastic news for people who couldn't get to see an NHS dentist before.

'We will use the money to make sure that an extra thousand people in the Northampton area will get access to NHS dental care. This means local people will have healthier teeth, and will be less likely to suffer from long-term dental problems.'

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'We will use the money to make sure that an extra thousand people in the Northampton area will get access to NHS dental care. This means local people will have healthier teeth, and will be less likely to suffer from long-term dental problems.'

Assuming that you do get the money. And those patients do actually attend (attendances are down nationwide I believe, for fee paying adults anyway). You`ll probably have to open longer hours, or shorten your appointment times. Or build a new surgery to take on the extra load which is a job for another associate and nurse. Or of course a whole new practice which if my home town is comparable, has two new NHS practices at least one of which is scrabbling around for patients, the poor devils. Assuming the money actually gets to YOU. And isn`t soaked up in compliance training, PCT posts, etc etc. Sorry to be a pessimist, but there`s a huge shortage of money on at the mo., and a PCT will want your SOUL for that extra money. And who can blame them? Good luck Alison, really, good luck.

Posted by Andrew Adey 1/2/12 at 16:16

The monies will never reach the dentists and whatever does will have stupid conditions- it is for patients who have not seen dentist for two years!
how does that work?
The sooner the damn PCTS are disbanded the better Whatever happened to quality in the NHS dental world

Posted by 32daant@gmail.com 1/2/12 at 16:43

The monies will never reach the dentists and whatever does will have stupid conditions- it is for patients who have not seen dentist for two years!
how does that work?
The sooner the damn PCTS are disbanded the better Whatever happened to quality in the NHS dental world

Posted by 32daant@gmail.com 1/2/12 at 16:43

Propaganda exercise by govt. It will get wasted or end up in the hands of a couple of chosen ones that the pct deal with. Read an interesting blog in dentinal tubules on an update from one of the practices carrying out the latest govt fudge up contract.
ok so initially the patient is seen for a half hour exam and fully assessed.
the way this system works is based on hours of service provided rather than uda's. Your practice will provide 8am to 8pm services 7 days a week 365 days a year on large contracts with dentists salaried based on previous contract values. the pct is currently working out how to remunerate in the future as UDAs are out the window. Currently means the dentists need to work on rotor to fill the hours

if they have come for an emergency they are got out of pain then seen for a full assessment.

patients are graded based on specific criteria and given a score. in their examination they are asked:
1. do you have any pain : score is given based on debilitation from pain
2. can you eat : score is given based on debilitation

then onto the examination
mouth is divided into sextants
3. each sextant is given a score based on perio condition and caries eg if caries in ur sextant a score of 4 is given. If in all sextants a score of 24 is given. Same for perio
4. soft tissues are scored based on evidence of trauma etc
after this the software assesses risk eg high perio, high caries etc

it then provides a score out of 100 with green/amber/red on each section, showing areas of concern.

there is a massive emphasis on perio/prevention/diet/oh. If a patient attends with caries everywhere and no pain but a mouth full of calculus and perio pocketing then the treatment plan involves treating the perio first giving ohi and reviewing 3 months later.

At this time you redo the assessment and rescore. If the patient attends with a mouth full of calculus again, you repeat perio treatment and review again 3 months later. You do not restore any teeth until oh has improved, unless they are having pain.

Posted by gordie 2/2/12 at 16:48

Check out Hitler tries to run a dental practice on you tube ,brilliant

Posted by gordie 2/2/12 at 17:10