'More cuts will kill NHS dental services across UK', BDA warns UK chancellor

British Dental Association notified Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt that further cuts to the health budget would terminate dental services across the UK, and millions of patients would suffer and lose access to NHS dental services.

The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has told members of the cabinet that everything goes as he plans to salvage billions of pounds in savings after scrapping Liz Truss' economic plan, who resigned on Thursday.

The head of the British Dental Association emailed Jeremy Hunt that as NHS dental service had already faced significant cuts over the last ten years, any further cuts in funding could trigger its collapse.


In the memo to Hunt, Woodrow wrote: “Recent NHS England board papers confirm officials are euphemistically ‘taking steps to maximise access from existing resources’. We know what that means. Yes, we recognise the unparalleled pressures on public spending. Equally, we cannot escape the hard fact that a service millions depend on materially lacks the resources to underpin any rebuild.

“You have also spoken of the need for all departments to seek ‘efficiency savings’. Since the financial crash, NHS dentistry has faced cuts with no parallel anywhere in the health service, going into the pandemic with lower government contributions – in cash terms – than it saw a decade ago.




“As we have told your predecessors, it would take an extra £880m a year simply to restore levels of resource to those we saw in 2010.”

Woodrow also said, “We never imagined we would need to defend the wholly inadequate resources currently offered to us. But it seems we must. However, the stark reality remains that sustainable investment is urgently required if we are going to bring this service back from the brink.”

The LGA data released his month notified that no local authority region in the country had greater than one dentist giving NHS treatment per 1,000 people. The Guardian also reported how being deprived of dentists has turned some patients to perform dentistry on themselves resulting in disastrous situations.

FAQs

Why are a lot of NHS dentists abandoning poor areas?
Due to the lack of proper remuneration.

Who is the head of the British Dental Association?
Martin Woodrow heads BDA.