THE lack of NHS dentists locally has come under fire from local MP Andrew Murrison. The MP says the inability to get to see an NHS dentist locally is a regular feature of his constituency mailbag.
“People need to have equal access to a defined range of dental procedures. In Wiltshire access (to NHS dentistry) is poor, causing enormous frustration and inevitably less good oral health”, he said during a debate in the House of Commons. The local MP has suggested that the lack of NHS dentists in the local area can be attributed to how they are paid.
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.
Dr Murrison asked the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, “Does my right hon friend recognise that the crisis in NHS dentistry well predates the pandemic, and indeed goes back to at least 2006 when the then Labour Government changed the way in which dentists are paid? Will he undertake to look at the UDA system, which disincentivises dentists from providing dental work particularly in the most disadvantaged communities?”
In reply, Javid said, “My right hon friend is absolutely right in his analysis, and I can give that undertaking.”
