Julian presses Minister of Government’s new plan for dentistry
February 20, 2024
Earlier this month the Government unveiled a plan to get NHS dental care back on track. When the package was announced in the House of Commons, Julian asked the Health Secretary to ensure this funding in ringfenced and does not go into a larger pot so dental funding for York is spent in York.
Speaking after his question, Julian said:
“This is an issue I have been campaigning for, especially since Bupa Holgate Park practice closed last year. Since then I have met with dentists in York to discuss difficulties they face delivering NHS care, met with our local Integrated Care Board to investigate how Government funding for NHS dental care is allocated and redeployed in our city, met with Healthwatch to learn from their own research on our city’s experience, and met with the Minister for Public Health on numerous occasions.”
The Government has injected an additional £200million help deliver 2.5 million more appointments per year, through a range of immediate and long term initiatives.
From next month:
Lifting the minimum UDA value by 22% from £23 to £28 to pay NHS dentists more.
Paying dentists a bonus of up to £50 for each new patient they take on who haven’t seen a dentist for 2 years.
Incentivising dentists to work in rural or underserved areas with £20,000 golden handshakes.
Rolling out dental vans to the most in need rural and coastal areas to carry out emergency and routine work.
Launching the ‘Smile for Life’ programme to assist new parents on prevention and how to reduce dental decay in children.
Increasing the number of dentistry training places by 40% by 2031/32 in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Expanding the water fluoridation programme – subject to consultation.
The Minister for Primary Health has kindly agreed to visit York and Julian looks forward to holding a meeting with local dentists so we can ensure these plans work in practice and improve NHS dental care access.
