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Press Release Conservatives
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13th August 2008
Embargoed until 00:01 hrs 14th August 2008
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Penning: £4.5 billion of dental charges under Labour as 2 million lose NHS dentist
New analysis by the Conservatives reveals that:
NHS dental patients have paid £4.5 billion in charges under Labour since 1997, despite 2 million people losing their NHS dentist.
Although spread between fewer patients, the annual amount paid in dental charges has soared by 22 per cent since 1997. Patients are now on average paying 35 per cent more for NHS dental treatment than they were in 1997.
Shadow Health Minister Mike Penning said: “Labour’s dental legacy is one of shameful failure.
“Not only are people now paying 35 per cent more when they see their NHS dentist, but Labour’s botched policies mean that millions of hard-working families have completely lost access to affordable dental care.
“Labour ministers need to own up to their mistakes, stop dithering and take action now to rectify the mess they’ve got the country into.”
ENDS
For more information, call Paul Stephenson on 0772 561 0696.
Notes to editors
1.Dental charges since 1997
The table below shows the amount paid by NHS dental patients in charges in each year since 1997-98. It was calculated on the basis of as yet unpublished information given to Andrew Lansley on 29 July 2008 in response to a Parliamentary Question.
Year
1997-98
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
Total
Charge (£m)
388.9
420.0
432.2
453.4
470.0
481.6
485.3
467.5
444.1
475.4
4,518.4
Year on year increase
8%
3%
5%
4%
2%
1%
-4%
-5%
7%
2.Charges per patient
It is difficult to obtain comparable information on the number of patients with an NHS dentist going back to 1997 as the Government no longer collects data on patients registered with NHS dentists. However, the Department of Health admitted in response to a Parliamentary Question in 2006 that in March 1997 there were 19,797,964 adults in England registered with an NHS dentist, compared with just 17,945,663 in March 2006, a decrease of almost 2 million people (Hansard, 7 November 2006, col. 1272WA).
The amount paid annually in NHS charges has gone up by 22 per cent since 1997, despite almost 2 million people losing their dentist. That means the average amount paid by any one NHS dental patient in a given year has increased from £19.60 to £26.50.
Patient experiences of local access to dentistry under the new dental contract
The Healthcare Commission’s 2008 survey of patients’ experiences of local health services (published 31 July 2008) made clear that half of the respondents reported that they had visited a dentist as an NHS patient at least once in the last two years. Of all those who do not currently visit a dentist as an NHS patient, over three quarters (79%) said that they would like to be able to do so.
Select Committee Report makes clear negative outcomes from Labour’s change to the dental contract (House of Commons Health Committee, Dental Services, Fifth Report of Session 2007-8, vol. 1, HC 289-I)
·Fall in preventative advice. ‘We received no evidence from the Department that the amount of preventative advice given by dentists had increased since April 2006. However, a survey conducted in 2007 by the London Assembly found that only 69% of NHS dental patients had received preventative advice when they last visited their dentist. The corresponding figure for private dental patients was 86%.’ (pp. 30-1).
·Reduction in the number of complex treatments carried out. ‘There are concerns that since 2006, as a result of the contract, some patients who require complex dental treatment are not receiving it. The volume of more complex dental treatment administered by dentists within band three (requiring laboratory work such as crowns, bridges and dentures) has fallen sharply since 2006 … Before 2006, 8% of all treatments were what are now termed band three treatments. Since 2006, the figure is 4%.’ (p. 32).
·Problems with retention of dentists forecast. ‘As we have seen, dentists working in the GDS before 2006 were given an income guarantee until April 2009 regardless of whether or not they met their UDA target … We note the fears that many dentists will leave the GDS in 2009 … We recommend that the Department monitor closely the career plans of NHS dentists.’ (p. 50).
·Issue of patient access. ‘The Department initially stated that the key test of its reforms would “be their ability to support improved patient access.” Many witnesses claimed that access problems remained severe … During our enquiry the Department’s emphasis changed. Rather than improving access, the CDO claimed that the reforms introduced in April 2006 had not made things worse’. (p. 19).
·A return to patient registration? ‘We recommend that patient registration be reinstated because dental care is most effective when delivered over time and as part of a trusting dental-patient relationship … the Department should consider increasing the number of UDA bands so that dentists are rewarded for providing appropriate treatment.’ (p. 5)
Further problems with NHS Dentistry
·Access to dentistry continues to decline. The most recent quarterly figures released by the NHS Information Centre indicate that the number of people accessing an NHS dentist since the contract based on Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) were introduced in 2006 has fallen again. In the two years to December 2007, 53.7% of the population (27.3 million) saw an NHS dentist compared to 55.8% (28.1 million) in the 24 months before the UDA contract was introduced. (See
·Detrimental impact of the UDA contract. Conservative research shows that in the last three months of 2007, 338,000 people lost access to their NHS dentist – at a rate of 3,674 people daily (Conservative Press Release, Penning: Nearly 4,000 people a day lose their NHS Dentist).
·7.4 million with no NHS dentist.A recent study for the Citizens Advice Bureau found that 7.4 million people have not been to an NHS dentist since April 2006 because of difficulties in finding one (16 January 2008).
·Number of NHS dentists declining. The Department of Health has admitted that the number of NHS dentists declined by 500 last year (Department of Health, Evidence to the 2008 Pay Review body for Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration, 5 November 2007).
Misleading Government pledges
·Blair promises NHS dentists for all.In his speech to the Labour Party conference of 28 September 1999, Tony Blair said that everyone would have access to an NHS dentist within two years (Tony Blair, Speech at Labour Party Conference, 28 September 1999).
·Health Secretary refuses to acknowledge existing problems. In two separate sessions of Health Oral Questions, Alan Johnson, answering questions put by Mike Penning, has insisted that access to NHS Dentistry is ‘getting better all the time.’ (Official Report, 5 February 2008; Vol. 471, c. 772; 17 Jun 2008: c. 800)