New report calls for fundamental reform of NHS dental care

Healthwatch England gave oral evidence to the Committee about the problems people have experienced accessing and affording an NHS dentist.

Nearly 30 Local Healthwatch services also submitted insight on the challenges people face in their local area when it comes to getting dental care.

The report said: “Fundamental reform of the dental contract is essential and must be urgently implemented, not only to address the crisis of access in the short-term, but to ensure a more sustainable, equitable and prevention-focused system for the future. We are concerned that any further delay will lead to more dentists leaving the NHS and exacerbate the issues patients are experiencing with accessing services.”

Responding to the report, Louise Ansari, Chief Executive of Healthwatch England (pictured), said: “Healthwatch England welcomes this report from the committee, which has accepted the evidence we gave in person to MPs that there is a crisis of access and affordability in NHS dentistry and that ‘everyone should be able to access an NHS dentist when they need one, wherever they live’. We also welcome the call for a national information campaign to tackle misconceptions about ‘registration’ with dentists.

“Ultimately, only a fundamental and fully resourced dental contract reform can tackle these deep-seated problems, and we call on the government to publish its dental recovery plan urgently.

“NHS dentistry is the second most common problem that the public report to Healthwatch, with more than 400 local reports from across England in the past three years exposing experiences of people suffering in pain, performing DIY dentistry and struggling to pay the costs of treatment.”

What have people told us about dental care?

NHS dental care is the second most common issue people report to Healthwatch. In 2022-23, 62% of dental feedback was negative in sentiment, up from 55% in 2020-21.

Access continues to be the main issue the public reports. Difficulties getting support have led to many people living in pain. In some extreme cases, people take matters into their own hands, resorting to DIY dentistry.

Whilst some parts of England have better access to NHS dentists, our research indicates that people from the most deprived communities struggle the most to access dental care because they cannot afford it.

Polling we published in 2021 found that people from lower-income households, when compared to people from more affluent households, were:

• Less likely to have visited the dentist during the pandemic.
• More likely to have avoided treatment due to the cost.
• Less likely to say they will see a dentist in the future.

People from an ethnic minority background also had similar responses.

Because of this inequality, Healthwatch England has called for rapid and radical reform of how NHS dentistry is commissioned and provided to create a system where everyone has equal access to affordable dental care. Any reform also needs to result in better information for patients and clarity on the obligations of dentists.

The full report by the Commons Health and Social Care Committee can be read here.