LOCAL MP, Andrew Murrison, has again called for the 2006 dental contract, negotiated by the previous government, to be overhauled.
Since April 2006, UK NHS dentists have been paid according to how many units of dental activity (UDA) they undertake in a year, meaning a dental practice will be paid the same for a simple extraction as for an entire course of treatment.
In a debate in the Commons recently, the MP said, “I congratulate my hon. friend on securing this debate. Would he agree with me that the fundamental problem with NHS dentistry at the moment is the 2006 contract and the units of dental activity?
“Does he share my disappointment at the statement made in the summer about how to resolve the situation based on the consultation launched last year, and furthermore, does he hope that UDAs will be expunged from all of this, so that dentists can be properly rewarded for the job they do and thus return to the NHS?”
Andrew Murrison says he has been contacted by a large number of constituents who have found it impossible to get access to an NHS dentist in the area.
In November, the MP asked the then minister, Maria Caulfield, what she would do to resolve the UDA basis for calculating dentists’ payments.
He said, “There needs to be a root and branch reform of dentists’ remuneration so that they will return to the NHS and not be tripped up by the unintended consequences of payment by UDA.”
