Continued Improvement For NHS Dentistry, UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 12 Mar 2007 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

The amount of dental activity commissioned by the NHS is continuing to rise, according to new statistics released today.

Significantly, the figures also show that since the new dental contract was introduced in April, more services have been recommissioned than were lost in rejected contracts.

Health Minister Rosie Winterton said:

"The latest figures show that NHS dentistry is expanding, with Primary Care Trusts commissioning more dental services for patients than last year. The dental reforms are for the first time allowing Trusts to build sustainable local dental services, rather than the piecemeal services we had before.

"The commissioning figures also show that PCTs have put more - not less - money into dentistry than they were required to do, and the access figures show that this is translating into services for patients on the ground.

"The new contracts were designed to give dentists exactly what they asked for - more time with their patients. It also offers the security of a guaranteed NHS income, enabling them to plan ahead in the certainty of a fixed monthly payment for their NHS work."

The dental statistics can be found on the Department of Health website: http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/dental_contracts

• Additional
• References
• Citations