A dental sticking plaster solution?

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One would have thought that health secretary, Andrew Lansley, had enough on his plate without stirring up controversy over the perennial problems of access to NHS dentistry.

He may not have meant to ‘practise to deceive' when he put out a press release promising £28 million extra funding so that 120,000 more patients could access dentists.

No doubt his officials presented it to him as an unambiguous ‘good news' story, in contrast to the battering he is receiving from all sides over his Health Bill.

The problem is that it raises more questions than it answers, although it may be unfair to say he is trying to deceive.

The funding will be given to Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), who will have bid for the cash to expand local services to meet patients' needs.

They may provide more ‘appointments with NHS dentists' and providing domiciliary services. The extra funding is part of the Government's drive to improve oral health and increase access to NHS dentists.
 
It seems like a good idea, but perhaps too good to be true.

The money goes to PCTs, but in 14 months these will be no more. So you get the money to see more patients this year, but may not have the money to treat them next. It's happened before and may well happen again – a sticking plaster solution indeed.
 
£28 million to bring in 180,000 new patient works out at £155 a patient, a sizeable sum which equates to about seven UDAs (Units of Dental Activity). The PCTs must have put in a good bid for this money. But will it do the trick?
 
All the PCTs can do is commission UDAs or services such as domiciliaries. Added to that is the high level of patents' charges which has hit demand for NHS dentistry. Reports from Sussex and elsewhere claim that practices are having problems attracting NHS patients.
 
So what happens when the dentist misses the unrealistic targets set by the PCT, fails to deliver the extra UDAs that have been commissioned. Clawback is what happens, something that will bring a smile to a hard-pressed finance director faced with a cash deficit.
 
 

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Access, access, access - squarks the increasingly desperate parrot. But access to what? Does anyone really believe the ludicrous Nectar Point/UDA system encourages the dentists involved to provide proper, ethical high-quality oral care? Anyone who does believe that, BTW, needs urgently to personally check-out another 'Cinderella' part of the NHS - that part dealing with mental health, as they are clearly delusional. This Coalition government will be lucky to survive 2013. The fracture lines are now widening clearly. Mr Lansley himself in all likelyhood will be 'Lord Lansley of Nash Reform' even before the final curtain. Then, it'll all be reformed again! So, the slow inexoriable decline continues. Very glad I jumped ship in 2006.
Here's a nice link:
www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9066483/Downing-Street-does-not-want-Andrew-Lansley-taken-out-and-shot.html

--This post was last edited on 7/2/12 at 14:02--

Posted by docholliday 7/2/12 at 13:36

I have just had a brilliant idea. If they want patients to have access to NHS dentistry why not set up a system where the dentist gets paid for what they do - without limits or caps. I know it will mean a long list of individual treatments, but it could just work. The jobs-worths could be made happy by employing some dentists who cannot hack it in the real world to be some type of super-dentist to supervise the standards of treatment. Even better those who earn too much could be targeted rather than those doing low-standard work. Cor blimey, I've cracked it and everybody wins.

Posted by DrTeeth666 7/2/12 at 20:24

Do you mean something like fee / item? By the way snow and weather great.

Posted by gordie 8/2/12 at 18:15