An update on the Dental Recovery Plan

Under new plans, people will benefit from millions more NHS dental appointments over the next year. Read our update in the areas where ECS deliver local Healthwatch to see the latest picture.

In February 2024, the Government announced its long awaited ‘Dental Recovery Plan’ [1]that is aimed at addressing the chronic shortage of NHS dentists in England. Key parts of the plan to deal with shortages in the more immediate future include the ‘new patient premium’ paid at a rate of £15 to £50 to dentists depending upon treatment delivered, for each new patient registered who has not been seen by a dentist in the last two years. The other key feature is the ‘golden hello’ of a £20,000 payment over three years paid to dentists who are recruited to work in areas with particular issues over in recruitment and retention of dentists.

There are other provisions within the plan to provide mobile dentists for rural and coastal areas, and supervised dental hygiene for children in education settings, and increase dental training places over the next few years but these are longer term plans and there is little detail about the delivery of these measures.

The plan has been cautiously welcomed by Healthwatch England[2], but the British Dental Association has declared the plans to be inadequate and failing to address the issues of a lack of access to NHS dentistry, poor funding and shortages of dentists willing to undertake NHS work.[3]

Recent work by Healthwatch Bedford Borough identified that there was a lack of practices that were taking on NHS patients. We identified that at the beginning of 2024 there was only one practice that we were able to see through the NHS website taking on new adult NHS patients[4].  The new premium payments for taking on new NHS patients commenced on 1 March 2024 and a check on the number of NHS dentists in the Bedford area taking on new adult NHS patients has increased to 6 practices at that date. It is not clear whether this is a result of the premium payments or whether there has been any other intervention that may have increased supply locally.

In comparison, Halton only has two practices that are taking on new patients across both Runcorn and Widnes which is an improvement from no practices taking on NHS patients in March 2022[5]. Neighbouring Warrington does have six practices taking on new adult NHS patients which provides a further option for those living in Halton who are able to travel.

Healthwatch Walsall published their report on NHS dentists in 2023[6] and found at the time that there were 10 NHS practices taking on new NHS patients. There appears to be little to no difference in the provision since the new funding on 1 March.

Healthwatch Sandwell found in 2022, that there were only 7 dentists in the local area that were accepting NHS patients[7]. This has now increased to 18 practices, according to the information available on the NHS website in March 2024.

Stoke-on-Trent was identified as an area with a particular shortage of NHS dentists by the Association of dental groups in 2022 [8] and people were reporting difficulty accessing NHS dental care[9]. There are now seven dentists in Stoke-on-Trent accepting all three categories of NHS patient and a further four practices in neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme are accepting NHS patients for those who are able to travel.

The Dental Recovery Plan includes many elements that have yet to be developed and implemented, with a lack of detail on where the additional 240 dentists recruited under the ‘golden hello’ will be located and no detail on how the mobile dental services will be delivered in rural and coastal areas and by whom.

However, the additional funding for new patients who have not seen a dentist in two years may have had an impact on the availability of dentists taking on new adult NHS patients with most of the Healthwatch areas delivered by ECS seeing an increase in the number of practices saying that they are registering new patients.

The Government says it will soon roll out a national marketing campaign to encourage people who have struggled to find an NHS dentist in recent years to contact dental practices. 

Elizabeth Learoyd, Managing Director of ECS said: “These increases in availability of dentists taking on new NHS patients is a welcome step in the right direction for increasing access to dentistry. As the largest provider of Healthwatch services in England, we have seen that access to dentistry has been a problem nationally, with people unable to access essential dentistry services. The dental recovery plan is a step in the right direction to tackle the chronic shortage of NHS dentist appointments but there is still a long way to go. More transformative strategies are needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of NHS dentistry, with the main crucial element being people being able to register with their local dentist and access the care and treatment that they need. As local Healthwatch providers, we will continue to signpost people to available dentists and continue our research to monitor the changes and hopeful improvements to accessibility of NHS dentistry services. “

You can look up the NHS website’s ‘find a dentist’ tool to see if your practice is taking on new patients. Dentists must keep these listings up to date, but availability can change quickly, so you may need to ring around. Find out how to get an NHS dentist.  You can contact your local Healthwatch too as they are on hand to provide information and signposting advice and support to help you access a local dentist. www.healthwatch.co.uk

[1] Faster, simpler and fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[2] NHS Dental Recovery Plan - our response | Healthwatch

[3] The Dental Recovery Plan: what does it mean for you? (bda.org)

[4] Awaiting publication

[5] The Big Dental Check Up March 2022.pdf (healthwatchhalton.co.uk)

[6] Dentistry Report - Final Version.pdf (healthwatchwalsall.co.uk)

[7] Access-to-dentists-in-Sandwell-March-2022.pdf (healthwatchsandwell.co.uk)

[8] ADG-Report_The-urgent-need-to-level-up-access_April-2022_V3.pdf (usercontent.one)

[9] Guidance (healthwatchstokeontrent.co.uk)