Nhs dentists ? Why is it so difficult ?

[richardsalwyasright]

I've been registered at my dentist for 20 years now as a nhs patient.
It's literally 5 min walk from my house and the staff have always been lovely but I haven't been since October 2021.
Anyway rang up yesterday and luckily I just made the two year cut off before I was removed so they said I was still a nhs patient there -they can't get me a check up appointment till end of February next year !!
Yet my friend (who is private as they won't take her as nhs) gets an appointment in October
It's the same dentist as mine
So how can they see her in October but nothing for me till feb next year ?
I mean don't get me wrong I'm grateful I still have a nhs dentist but at the same time it's ridiculous
Why is it such a carry on now for nhs ?

This has been done to death. Google NHS UDA contracts and see why people are willing to do more private than NHS.

I thought it was obvious, money.

Also as you said you hadn't been for nearly 2 years you can't be that concerned with being an NHS patient? Things have changed a lot in those 2 years unfortunately.

I'm oblivious to it all
Didn't even realise this was an issue
I think I have taken for granted how easy it was to get appointments

They make more money from private appointments so they schedule more slots for private patients and only a very small number for NHS patients.

@shakeitoffsis I haven't had any problems with my teeth.
I seen a post on fb so I rang as I was worried I have been removed -luckily I hadn't
But if I had I wouldn't of been able to afford private prices

Years & years of underfunding from our esteemed government. Everyone knows this, don’t they?

You answered your own question. They can see your friend sooner because she is paying privately. There will be a certain number of appointment slots that are funded for NHS patients & these are booked until Feb 24. The rest of the appointments will be for private patients.

There is too much demand for a service that is underfunded and overwhelmed & staff are underpaid and undervalued. It’s the NHS all over. Not just dentistry.

I had to go private to get an appointment as my NHS dentist left and the other NHS dentist isn't taking on new patients.. I had the appointment yesterday and all was fine but there were signs up saying the government (Scotland) was removing 6 monthly NHS check ups and going to yearly or every 2 years depending on need.

I asked the dentist and he said it was to make more NHS appointments available but no dentist wanted to do NHS now as the pay is so poor. He told me a basic filling is worth £10 and from that they have to cover their time, materials, the dental nurse, practice overheads, and the costs of sterilising equipment etc. and it's just not economical.

Wow I can't believe the pay is so poor for nhs treatments
You can totally understand why

More than that. They lose money on NHS patients.

Each dental practice that does NHS work is contracted to do a certain amount of work each year. If they do less they have to pay clawback, if they do more then they are not paid for it and any patient contributions are taken off their total contract value!

Practices are told they must divide up the work each year so they do not run out of funding by the end of the year. Most practices will do NHS and private work, the private subsidises the very poor renumeration from NHS work.

Therefore most practices will allocate a certain amount of appointments each week for NHS work. Because of the rate at which a dentist has to work they will see around three times as many NHS patients as private patients in the same time frame.

Not only that but in many areas the health authorities have told dentists to prioritise those who need treatment over routine check ups . Therefore check ups are being pushed back in order to get treatment done.

It's a nightmare situation for dentists , staff and patients as things get worse and worse. Practices are converting to fully private at a rate never seen before because there is no improvement in sight, in fact things are getting worse , in funding and organisation of NHS dentistry.

I've not had access to an NHS dentist in 8 years. There are none available taking on new patients anywhere where I live. It was suggested if I visit anywhere else in the country regularly that I check there. It's fucked.

Our nearest dentist was like this for a while and now they're scrapping NHS entirely, and it will be for financial reasons. I've been on the waiting list with my son for 6 years now and fully expect to never get to get an NHS dentist in my life.

I am an NHS patient at a mostly private practice and have been told I can only have check up appointments every 9 months now instead of 6 months as before. It’s the same for my children. Definitely a money thing

The answer to this is so obvious I'm surprised it even needs saying.

Money

They make far more money from private patients, so they schedule more slots for them.

No , the NHS are asking dentists to put back check ups by as much as once every two years to increase capacity without the NHS spending any more money, indeed one of the many,many,many checks done on NHS dentists is to make sure they do not bring in too many people every six months !

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-teeth-and-gums/dental-check-ups/

Of all the monumental fuck ups inflicted on the country by 13 years of conservatism & "austerity" - no one responsible for that has ever heard 'buy cheap, buy twice' it seems - i think dentistry is up there as a one of the worst, as the speed of fuck up has been incredible. I had my last children 14 years ago - at that point i had an NHS dentist, got my 12 months of free treatment during/after pregnancy, and the dcs were registered with an NHS dentist. Just 12 years later, we had no access to NHS treatment, at all. Last year when the dcs had their annual check up & hygienist visit it cost c £80 per child.

Poor dental health is linked to so many other problems - hospital treatment to remove decaying teeth (this is the commonest reason for young children having a GA) poor nutrition and related health problems due to difficulty eating, bacteria entering blood stream due to gum disease can cause heart problems....NHS dentistry desperately needs better funding

The practice where I am has a sister practice at another area of town
They went fully private last year and the nhs patients either had to pay or find another nhs dentist.
I'm assuming it won't be long until my practice also is fully private.

You’re lucky, I haven’t had an NHS dentist for over 10 years. Live in what I’d call a decent area in the south, no NHS dentists for 40 miles. Even children around here are on private dental plans because there is no NHS dentistry.

It's been like this for years but getting worse. I'm very lucky to be registered to an nhs dentist but I always go for a check up every 6 months and book my next appointment when I'm there to make sure I get one. I'd recommend you start doing the same from your next appointment.

They do usually keep emergency appointments free though.

Arseholes

Here's the letter in Wales. Page 5 , no more than 20% of patients to be seen in a period of less than a year , otherwise financial penalty. https://bda.org/news-centre/blog/Documents/wales-director-dcdo-letter-contract-reform-restart-02-22.pdf