British Dental Association Response To Review Of The National Dental Contract In Wales

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 12 Jul 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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The British Dental Association has welcomed the publication of the Welsh Assembly Government Task and Finish Group's Review of the Dental Contract in Wales. The report notes issues around the new dental contract including concerns about the system of units of dental activity and problems encountered by local health boards in commissioning dental care. The report calls for the extension of the ring fencing of dental allocations within local health board budgets until 2012, a recommendation accepted by Minister for Health and Social Services Edwina Hart in an accompanying statement.

Commenting on the publication, BDA Director for Wales Stuart Geddes said:

"This report, like that recently published by the Health Select Committee at Westminster, notes the significant problems created by the new contract. This acknowledgement is a welcome one.

"The extension of ring fencing of local health boards' dentistry budgets to 2012 is a positive step that will provide much needed stability. The Welsh Assembly Government must now seek to tackle some of the other problems identified by this report, including the inadequacy of the unit of dental activity as a sole measure of dentists' activity."

Details of the review are available here.

The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional association for dentists in the UK. It represents over 23,000 dentists working in general practice, in community and hospital settings, in academia and research, and in the armed forces.

www.bda.org