In just over nine weeks the life peer and surgeon Lord Ara Darzi conducted and published a review of the NHS in England. His conclusions are honest and damning. The NHS is not working as it should, does not deliver the care and outcomes expected of it despite record funding.
Across the board staff feel disengaged and funding has gone to the wrong place. The patient voice is not strong enough. While the move to Integrated Care Boards is welcomed as a rationalisation of management and decision making, but there is significant variation in understanding both of roles and responsibilities.
Lord Darzi concludes, however, that while the NHS is in a critical condition its vital signs are healthy and recovery, while taking time, is more than possible: It’s necessary.
While dentistry cannot form a major part of such a comprehensive report it is exciting to see that it is far from marginalised. Of the 75 major national organisations, representing the whole range of health and social care, it is reassuring to see the British Dental Association was invited to provide input. The report also makes these statements about primary care dentistry:
“Good dental health is essential for adults and children alike. Yet only about 30 and 40 per cent of NHS dental practices are accepting new child and adult registrations respectively. And as this chart from the Nuffield Trust shows, there are wide variations in the number of NHS dentists per population in different areas of the country. Rural and coastal communities particularly lack access to NHS dentistry. Dental access was particularly badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and is still recovering. If dentistry is to continue as a core NHS service, urgent action is needed to develop a contract that balances activity and prevention, is attractive to dentists and rewards those dentists who practice in less served areas. There are enough dentists in England, just not enough dentists willing to do enough NHS work, which impacts provision for the poorest in society.”
While this picture somewhat oversimplifies the issues with dentistry it is particularly interesting to see the desire for NHS dentistry “to continue as a core NHS service”. Significant improvements are required if NHS dentistry was to be core to the NHS, and this is what the LDC Confederation will continue to press for. You can read more about what the LDC Confederation is fighting for in our General Election Manifesto.
The move to ICBs and the work to apply flexible commissioning is a start, and the LDCs in the LDC Confederation are working hard with their ICB partners to foster integration, improve pathways and drive up working satisfaction among dentists in the NHS.
