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Minister defends NHS reforms

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Lord Warner said progress was being made

The government has defended its NHS dentistry reforms and claimed it has laid the foundation for improved patient access in certain areas of the country. Giving its verdict on the new system of contracts and charges nearly eight months after their introduction, health minister Lord Warner said: ‘The evidence strongly suggests that the NHS is now much better placed to improve access to services.’ He used north Cumbria as an example of an area where there was ‘good evidence’ that the supply of dental services had improved. Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Oldham and Milton Keynes were among the other areas highlighted for success. Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Warner said the government was aware that a number of people could not get access to NHS treatment. But he said: ‘The number of units of dental activity commissioned under the new contract exceeds the number provided under the old system which ended in April.’ It was reported last week that nearly 30,000 people have been allocated an NHS dentist in north Cumbria since the height of the crisis last year. Carlisle MP Eric Martlew said health bosses from PCTs across the country should speak with representatives in north Cumbria to see how the problem was turned around.

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More government spin attempting to disguise the fact that approximately 2000 dentists left the NHS completely last March/ April. Access to NHS dentistry is increasingly difficult to obtain in most areas of the country. The exceptions are areas where funds have been focused to try and defuse the problem in the more politically sensitive areas. Some PCT's are just waiting for their opportunity to ignore so called 'ring fencing' of dental funding and divert some of the money to patch other holes in their healthcare budgets. These comments try to paint an optimistic picture to the general public, but they fool no-one, least of all the dentists left trying to make a living ethically as an NHS dentist.

Posted by edwardmk 1/12/06

Tony Blar, please go to your nearest Dental surgey and pick the first dentist you see and let him/her run the Dental Health department for just one month!! You will see true reforms then that will benefit both the publc and the Dentists.

Posted by Jackson 2/12/06