Covid-19: Dental Services

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Thursday 14th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab) [V]]

I will start by commenting on the imposition of activity targets. On 17 December 2020, during a statement on coronavirus, I called on the Secretary of State to reverse this shocking and unacceptable decision. With a new national lockdown that could well last months, this situation is now more acute than ever. In his response, the Secretary of State said that an

“agreement…has been reached with the dentists”—[Official Report, 17 December 2020; Vol. 686, c. 410.]

However, that is not how the dental profession interpreted the end to negotiations. The BDA has made it clear that it could not agree to such terms and that new contract requirements had been imposed on them. That in no way, shape or form constitutes an agreement. In the interests of accuracy, will the Minister clarify today that no such agreement was reached and that these targets have been imposed on dentists against their will?

Dental practices are now being asked to deliver 45% of their annual UDA target in order to receive their usual contract value. Surely the Government must recognise that this is simply impossible during a national lockdown. Many contract holders will hit a financial cliff edge and be required to return the majority of their contract value. Other practices will be forced to prioritise routine work such as check-ups for lower-risk patients, at the expense of urgent care and preventive work, simply to survive financially. For some years now, the Government have accepted that the dental contract needs reforming and that we need to move away from flawed UDAs. It is therefore unbelievable that the Government have decided to enforce a system based on UDAs in the middle of a pandemic. These are the wrong targets at the wrong time, and the Government should think again.

Unfortunately I know all too well about the crisis in access, because barely a week goes by when I do not have a constituent contacting me because they are unable to get a dental appointment for either themselves or their families, and often they are in severe pain and discomfort. Just last week, I was contacted by a nurse at a mental health hospital who is unable to get dental appointments for her patients. The shortage of community dentists, who are too thinly stretched, and high street practices that have to prioritise reaching UDA targets means that these vulnerable patients have no access to dental treatment at all.

That is one shocking example of what many Members know is true: it is increasingly difficult for our constituents to get an NHS dental appointment at all. The choice the Government now face is to either allow the situation to keep getting worse or to act now and bring in a new contract that does away with UDAs, to ensure that every patient gets the care and treatment they need.