Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

NO MORE DENTISTS

It’s getting worse. We’ve been battling away for years now with trying to put in place the level of NHS dentistry cover that people expect. For some time now if you are an adult and want to sign up with an NHS dentist in South Devon – forget it, there are just none available. We have had endless debates at Westminster, countless questions and answers. We have been constantly told that once new contractual arrangements are in place, normal service will be resumed.

But at least most practices were still treating children under the NHS even if they insisted on being private only for adults. This is crucial, as regular check ups for kids is important in the battle for the health of the nation’s teeth.

But news has reached me this week that some practices are now refusing to treat children on the NHS. Soon it seems that we may be facing a situation where even children do not have access to local NHS dentists. This is unacceptable.

But it is worse than that. It is clear that even though new contracts are now up and running, more practices are turning their backs on mother’s apron strings and going private. Ministers seem trapped in the headlights.
Are dentists, trained by the state, their practices established under the NHS, paid for by the tax-payer, just being downright greedy in ripping themselves free from state provision and control?

Possibly. But they tell me that the contacts simply do not provide adequate incentive for them to stay within the system. Under the NHS they have to sign up to punishing targets that require a high throughput of patients to make ends meet. Imagine yourself drilling inside somebody’s mouth all day. Surely you can only achieve job satisfaction by having the time to do a quality job. You can do “pile it high and sell it cheap” for a while, but in the end it is no way to conduct a professional career.
It seems to me there are two choices facing us: allow the current trends to continue and rig up some kind of second rate service under the NHS for those that can’t afford to go private; or to find new ways to incentivise the vast majority of dentists to remain or come back within the NHS and give quality service. My preference is firmly the latter.
Unfortunately, both time and the money are beginning to run out.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, April 13, 2006