Why NHS dentistry needs careful reform – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Phil Oldfield, Scriven, Knaresborough.
NHS dentistry is back in the spotlight.NHS dentistry is back in the spotlight.
NHS dentistry is back in the spotlight.

CLEARLY there has been a lot of correspondence about the inability to obtain dental treatment in certain areas (The Yorkshire Post, February 8).

These appear to be initiated by patients who do not understand the NHS Dentists contract.

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I was a General Dental Practitioner who retired in 2007 not long after the new radical contract was heisted on us.

There are fears that NHS dental patients will have to wait up to two years for treatment.There are fears that NHS dental patients will have to wait up to two years for treatment.
There are fears that NHS dental patients will have to wait up to two years for treatment.

This was so ludicrous that I was amazed it would last more than a couple of years, but it is now still operational many years later.

It was very unpopular at 
the time and didn’t benefit dentists or patients. If the dentist didn’t want to work under a farcical regime, he had no alternative but to go it alone as I did.

When a practice tells a patient that they are not accepting NHS patients, it is often the case that they have already negotiated a contract with the NHS to supply dental treatment on a points based system. If you get more points you don’t get any more income, but less and you get penalised.

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Simply to quote fees for treatment doesn’t indicate what the treatment is. Yes, the whole process needs radical change but is now the right time?

A rushed job would make the situation worse.

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