Dental patients hit as dentists funding fails to add up
Dentists are turning away patients because miscalculations by the Department of Health have resulted in local health authorities running out of money in the dental budget. The problem has arisen because dentists have been treating more patients who are exempt from dental charges than had been anticipated under the new dental contract which came into force last April.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are seeing their budgets fall because too little money is being raised in dental charges. As a result the PCTs cannot pay the dentists and some are turning non paying patients away, the British Dental Association said yesterday.
Peter Ward, chief executive of the association said: "The BDA is aware that some PCTs are reporting anticipated shortfalls in the revenue they receive from NHS dental charges paid by patients.
"Our concern is that these PCTs are using money meant for dental care to plug these gaps in revenue, when there are patients in their area struggling to get NHS dental care and dentists ready and willing to provide it."
Exempt patients include children and pregnant women, people on benefits, some war pensioners and some people on low incomes.
According to a memo seen by the BBC, the total amount of money from dental charges has been overestimated. It was anticipated that PCTs in England would get £630 million in charges, a quarter of the dental budget. But less money is coming in.
Jackie Sowerbutts, dental adviser to Surrey PCT, admitted that the trust had to say no to a number of requests from dentists for money.
"The labour government totally and utterly changed the system. It is not surprising the estimation [of patient charges] is turning out wrong. Many trusts are in this position," she said.
Problems are being experienced in Surrey, Bradford, Sheffield, Norfolk, Coventry, London and Cambridgeshire, where a £2.2 million shortfall is expected, the BBC says.
In Coventry the shortfall is £600,000 and in Norfolk the budget is being cut by nearly £3 million. Sandra Gidley, health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: "This is yet another botched NHS contract by a labour Government hell bent on driving through reforms with little understanding of the impact on patients and professionals.
"With many NHS Trusts deep in deficit, they simply cannot afford to bail dentists out of this latest labour Government-created problem. Their hands are tied.
"Rushed implementation of a system that was not tried and tested has led to the labour Government underestimating the number of exempt patients. The impact will be felt by all patients. It is simply unacceptable that patients seeking NHS dentistry are being encouraged to go private."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "As this is the first year of the new system, it is taking time to build up an accurate picture of the amount of money being obtained.
"We will not know the final position until June, and we cannot yet predict with any confidence what the total charges collected over the year will be.
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=Q5CJX2WBYAY3FQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/01/ndocs101.xml
As the Dept of Health admit that they will not know for another 6 months what the true position for dentists will be- and that's 3 months after this year's financial allocation starts, then expect the same incompetence this time next year when the funds again run out.
On Oct 09, 06 Health Direct warned that Dentists abandon children on NHS when up to two-thirds of children in some areas of England are failing to get regular dental treatment as thousands of youngsters have been dropped by dentists no longer willing to provide free National Health Service care.
As more parents have been forced to pay for their children’s treatment, dental practices and health insurers have brought out special children’s policies to cover dental charges.
Derek Watson, chief executive of the Dental Practitioners Association, said: “Primary care trusts will say that, where children have been deregistered, other dentists who want to do more NHS work will be found for these children but, in practice, there are few dentists who want to do more NHS work.”
Thousands of dentists left the NHS at the end of March because they were unhappy with the new pay deal offered by the Department of Health. At that time, thousands of children were dropped by dentists who previously offered NHS care.
Health Direct warned on April 01, 2006 in D Day for Dentists- 1,000 dentists expected to quit NHS in contract row that an exodus of about 1,000 dentists from the NHS in England was predicted by the chief executives of primary care trusts, who take over untried and untested management of the service from today. The NHS Confederation provided the first hard evidence of how patients will be affected by a dentists' contract that came into effect at midnight.
In the West Berkshire area more than 3,500 children have been dropped from NHS lists, while in Croydon it is more than 2,100, in Bromley 2,000 and in Sheffield 1,500. Across England just 45% of adults and 64% of children get regular treatment.
A recent study found that the proportion of 11-year-olds with tooth decay being treated has fallen by six percentage points in the past four years to only 42%, which researchers call a “disturbingly low” proportion.
Dentists believe access to the NHS will worsen because of labour government reforms to the way they are paid. A survey of local dental committees, carried out by the British Dental Association, showed 90% predict access to NHS dentistry will worsen.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are seeing their budgets fall because too little money is being raised in dental charges. As a result the PCTs cannot pay the dentists and some are turning non paying patients away, the British Dental Association said yesterday.
Peter Ward, chief executive of the association said: "The BDA is aware that some PCTs are reporting anticipated shortfalls in the revenue they receive from NHS dental charges paid by patients.
"Our concern is that these PCTs are using money meant for dental care to plug these gaps in revenue, when there are patients in their area struggling to get NHS dental care and dentists ready and willing to provide it."
Exempt patients include children and pregnant women, people on benefits, some war pensioners and some people on low incomes.
According to a memo seen by the BBC, the total amount of money from dental charges has been overestimated. It was anticipated that PCTs in England would get £630 million in charges, a quarter of the dental budget. But less money is coming in.
Jackie Sowerbutts, dental adviser to Surrey PCT, admitted that the trust had to say no to a number of requests from dentists for money.
"The labour government totally and utterly changed the system. It is not surprising the estimation [of patient charges] is turning out wrong. Many trusts are in this position," she said.
Problems are being experienced in Surrey, Bradford, Sheffield, Norfolk, Coventry, London and Cambridgeshire, where a £2.2 million shortfall is expected, the BBC says.
In Coventry the shortfall is £600,000 and in Norfolk the budget is being cut by nearly £3 million. Sandra Gidley, health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: "This is yet another botched NHS contract by a labour Government hell bent on driving through reforms with little understanding of the impact on patients and professionals.
"With many NHS Trusts deep in deficit, they simply cannot afford to bail dentists out of this latest labour Government-created problem. Their hands are tied.
"Rushed implementation of a system that was not tried and tested has led to the labour Government underestimating the number of exempt patients. The impact will be felt by all patients. It is simply unacceptable that patients seeking NHS dentistry are being encouraged to go private."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "As this is the first year of the new system, it is taking time to build up an accurate picture of the amount of money being obtained.
"We will not know the final position until June, and we cannot yet predict with any confidence what the total charges collected over the year will be.
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=Q5CJX2WBYAY3FQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/02/01/ndocs101.xml
As the Dept of Health admit that they will not know for another 6 months what the true position for dentists will be- and that's 3 months after this year's financial allocation starts, then expect the same incompetence this time next year when the funds again run out.
On Oct 09, 06 Health Direct warned that Dentists abandon children on NHS when up to two-thirds of children in some areas of England are failing to get regular dental treatment as thousands of youngsters have been dropped by dentists no longer willing to provide free National Health Service care.
As more parents have been forced to pay for their children’s treatment, dental practices and health insurers have brought out special children’s policies to cover dental charges.
Derek Watson, chief executive of the Dental Practitioners Association, said: “Primary care trusts will say that, where children have been deregistered, other dentists who want to do more NHS work will be found for these children but, in practice, there are few dentists who want to do more NHS work.”
Thousands of dentists left the NHS at the end of March because they were unhappy with the new pay deal offered by the Department of Health. At that time, thousands of children were dropped by dentists who previously offered NHS care.
Health Direct warned on April 01, 2006 in D Day for Dentists- 1,000 dentists expected to quit NHS in contract row that an exodus of about 1,000 dentists from the NHS in England was predicted by the chief executives of primary care trusts, who take over untried and untested management of the service from today. The NHS Confederation provided the first hard evidence of how patients will be affected by a dentists' contract that came into effect at midnight.
In the West Berkshire area more than 3,500 children have been dropped from NHS lists, while in Croydon it is more than 2,100, in Bromley 2,000 and in Sheffield 1,500. Across England just 45% of adults and 64% of children get regular treatment.
A recent study found that the proportion of 11-year-olds with tooth decay being treated has fallen by six percentage points in the past four years to only 42%, which researchers call a “disturbingly low” proportion.
Dentists believe access to the NHS will worsen because of labour government reforms to the way they are paid. A survey of local dental committees, carried out by the British Dental Association, showed 90% predict access to NHS dentistry will worsen.
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