NHS dental budget: More than £25m going unspent

More than £25m of the NHS dental budget in the West is going unspent, according to figures obtained by the British Dental Association (BDA).

It says Somerset is projected to have the largest underspend at £8m, with a quarter of its budget likely unused.

Gloucestershire and Dorset spending are just over a 10th of their budgets.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously defended the government's record on NHS dentistry but admitted "there is more to do".

The BDA has said the government must "wake up to the crisis".

'Not delivering'

For other areas, such as Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Swindon, Wiltshire and the wider Bristol area, the underspend is slightly less, between £3m and £6m.

The BDA said the reason for the underspend and transfer to private practice is the NHS Dental Contract negotiated with the government in 2006.

Under the contract, dentists are paid a set amount of £28 for what is termed as a "Unit of Dental Activity," regardless of whether it is a straightforward filling or a series of complicated treatments.

As a result, many dentists are pulling out of NHS contracts and going private because they are struggling to make ends meet.

Andre Louw from the British Dental Association Somerset said it was "essentially the same contract that's really not delivering at the moment" and wanted changes.

"I would like to see a contract that increases access to patients; that we remunerate dentists for the time they spend allowing new patients to enter their practice," he said.

"And rather than chasing targets, have a sustainable model where you can focus on prevention and care of the patient."

Fewer NHS practices are taking on new patients and more dentists are going private t 'to make ends meet'

The NHS releases dental statistics for England every year.

The latest figures published last year show that 18.1 million adults were seen by an NHS dentist in the two years to June 2023 - an increase of more than one million compared with the 16.4 million adults seen in the two years to June 2022.

A government spokesperson said it is preparing to offer dentists cash incentives to take on extra NHS patients and send teams into schools to treat children's teeth.

Up to 240 dentists across England will also be offered £20,000 to work for three years in under-served areas.

But the BDA say that's not enough to stop NHS practices from closing.