Dentists upset over 2010-11 funding award

10th Mar 2010

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The British Dental Association (BDA) has expressed disappointment at today's (Wednesday) announcement of the pay uplift for dentists for 2010/11.

The Department of Health has announced that salaried dentists have been awarded a 1% increase, while general dental practitioners have been awarded an increase that, after efficiency savings have been taken account of, is designed to produce a 0.9% uplift on contract values.

Susie Sanderson, chair of the BDA's executive board, said: 'Dentists appreciate the challenging financial climate the nation finds itself in and accept that restraint in public spending is inevitable.

'But what we also know is that the cost of providing dental care has soared in recent years. This award fails to take the increasing expenses facing dentistry into account. At a time of transition and uncertainty in dentistry, this award is a missed opportunity to give a much-needed injection of confidence.'

'High street dentists will be particularly disappointed that the government has chosen to disregard the Review Body's advice that efficiency savings should only be considered retrospectively, allowing the scale of these savings to become apparent in earnings and expenses data.

'Failure to accept it ignores what we know about increasing expenses in dentistry and the real cost of providing care to patients.'

Comments

If you don't like it - leave! Go Private. It's easy. No more being dependant on paymasters who openly insult and undervalue your skills, experience and training, freedom to embrace new technology for the benefit of your patients who are more than willing to pay for better, less invasive treatments, a much easier, more relaxed working life, less paperwork, the advantages are endless. It's time the individual members of this profession stuck together, recognised your true value (they need us; we don't need them!!) and said a resounding NO to this blatant, undisguised exploitation. Just have the guts to do it! Abandon the NHS, tell the PCTs what to do with their inadequate funding and embrace a better way, which is endemic, tried, trusted and fully functional in all other comparable nations. Have the courage to hold out for what you are really worth. Your patients will appreciate your services all the more if they have to pay a realistic rate for them. Take it from me; we went fully private in 1999 and have not regretted it for a minute. If we all did this the public outcry at losing the cheap service, funded and subsidised by us, that they have enjoyed (and in the main do not seem to have appreciated) over the past 50 or so years would force the government to introduce a scheme for access to treatment that would not be dependant, as the current system is, on exploiting the professionalism and dedication of an army of dentists who are grossly overworked, underpaid and underappreciated and, incidentally, have brought this unacceptable situation upon themselves by not having the sack to resist being expoited for years. Don't blame the BDA, weak and useless as they are. Stand up for yourselves as individuals and all this complaining about how unfairly you are being treated won't be neccessary!

Posted by biker2260 19/3/10 at 10:27

Biker2260. Excellent comment. What about the army of foreign dentists being imported? The purpose of which is to maintain this perverse system. At the end you will have a two tier system where the "exempts" and working class patients will be seen by these colleagues and the "white" British middle class by British trained Dentists.

Posted by Frasse 2/4/10 at 19:21

I think the question that really needs answering is why do we need to import foreign Dentists? Why can't we home-grow a big enough native workforce to cater for the needs of our expanding and ageing population? Could it be that this profession is no longer attractive to the brightest of the bright that we so urgently need to enlist, and if not, why not? Also, what do the governments and the people of these countries from which all this much needed expertise is being poached think of our inability to train and retain essential personel in sufficient numbers to keep our system going, if not thriving? Something is fundamentally wrong. The unappetising proposition of an extremely tough five year long degree coursefollowed by the prospect of social slavery, disrespect (The Mrs Grot-gobs) undervaluation/appreciation of hard learned skills is enough to put off the most resolute idealist! We need to make our profession more attractive, both financially and in the rewards that can't be taken to the bank but are the reason that most of us originally ventured into the area of caring for people. If we held our breath waiting for the government or the BDA to promote our interests we'd all suffocate, so it's down to us as individuals and collectively to improve our lot for the benefit of our patients, future recruits and, not least importantly, ourselves.

Posted by biker2260 8/4/10 at 19:50

where do they get an increase in uda value from mine has been reduced from 26 pounds per uda three years ago to 24 pounds and now 22 pounds per uda and my additional funding has also not been renewed so i have had to tell two thousand new patients i took on last year sorry there is no funding they are all private now ,is this how we care for our patients this is the direct result of voting conservative serves me right I suppose now I`m singing the blues

Posted by opnwyd4me 14/5/10 at 11:27

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