Fewer People Have An NHS Dentist This Year

Deborah Dunleavy, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Bolton NE expressed concern today that 1.4 million fewer people have an NHS dentist this year.

Miss Dunleavy said “According to figures revealed by the Conservative Party, the Government’s new dental contract has blown a black hole in NHS finances of over £120 million this year”

This relates to £650,000 shortfall in expected revenue to the Bolton PCT. Miss Dunleavy said it was bad enough people could no longer rely on being able to find an NHS dentist, without the thought of shortages within the system.

The figures are the latest in a long line of poorly costed staff contracts. Together, the four new staff contracts introduced by the Government have cost over £840 million more than the originally anticipated.

Miss Dunleavy went on to say “the shortfall of £120 million has been brought about because the income, Primary Care Trusts should have received from patient charges has been much lower than the Department of Health anticipated. Ironically, the cause of the shortfall has been the increasing number of people walking away from NHS dentistry after the Government tried to hike up dental charges last year.” 

The figures uncovered by the Conservative Party show that up to 1.4 million fewer people have an NHS dentist than last year. The figures are revealed less than eight years after Tony Blair promised that everyone would have access to an NHS dentist by the end of 2001. 

Commenting, Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: 

“This is the latest revelation in a long series of NHS mismanagements under Labour.  

“Eight years ago, Tony Blair promised everyone would have access to an NHS dentist but in the last year alone, 1.4 million fewer people have access. NHS dentistry has reached this crisis point thanks to the Government’s failure to negotiate a workable contract.  

“Labour wanted to milk dental patients through higher charges but the decline in NHS dentistry has even thwarted that plan.  

“We need a contract that will incentivise NHS dentists to see more people. One that supports a relationship between patient and dentist while promoting good oral health.”

Notes 

1. Andrew Lansley requested data from 51 of England’s 152 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) under the Freedom of Information Act. The data requested included (a) the originally anticipated income from patient charges, (b) the latest forecast for patient charge revenue, (c) the number of commissioned Units of Dental Activity and (d) the actual number of provided Units of Dental Activity in the first nine months of 2006-07. 

2. The data on patient charge revenue are reproduced below. Extrapolating up from the data provided by 51 PCTs to give a predicted total for England’s 152 PCTs, the data show that PCTs across England are expecting a shortfall in patient charge income of over £124 million.

PCT

      PCR original forecast  

      PCR latest forecast 

      Gap     

Bolton 

      £3,000 

      £2,350 

      -£650