NHS Dentistry No Longer Available For Children

nim_2

In my area (York), and as far as I can tell all of North and West Yorkshire, we have been suffering the attrition of NHS dentists for several years as more and more dentists stop doing NHS work and go private only. However, in general, they have still accepted children of their patients as NHS patients.

Today we got a letter from our dentist saying that under the new NHS contracts the dentists are no longer able to just take children as NHS patients, and so from 1 April 2006 children will be treated as private patients - of course they supplied a batch of denplan information with this (no pricing included).

Presumably this is going to affect the majority of dentists in the area, meaning a very large number of children are suddenly being pushed out of the NHS.

Additionally there are going to be no NHS places available since suddenly many thousand additional patients are going to be competing for the (very) few places there are.
It appears the government has managed to kill NHS dentistry in a very short time indeed.

It also looks as though there are no choices available - denplan has obviously geared up to handle this, but all the other dental insurance providers I have found so far have an exclusion in their (family) cover for standard treatment for under 18s because they are treated for free by the NHS
So where do we go from here?

LondonDiva

This was pointed out to the Govt months ago. However, they say that allowing dentists to choose to treat NHS children, but not adults is permitting discrimination etc.

Apparently come April(?) when the contract comes into full force, what's suppossed to happen is that dentists get so alarmed at losing the 'massive':rolleyes: amounts they get from treating children on the NHS that they'll suddenly let adults back in...

Nothing like forward planning

Diva:cool:

Toothsmith

From Today's SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

divadee

My dentist has been doing this for years. If you get it free then they will take you nhs ie. chilldren and pregnant women. If you have to pay then they make you go private.

Thing is i am a very nervous patient, after having a very dodgy dentist in the past who mucked up my teeth badly (and since has cost me a fortune putting it all right) and i now completely trust my dentist so i would be loathed to move my daughter if he stops doing nhs altogther.

Thing is he aint cheap either. I pay £20 just for a check up and then an additional £30 for a scale and polish! £50 seems a lot to me.

magoogy

just like our nhs - im having trouble getting them to fund me an hearing aid - they have left me with nothing after it broke and now im totally deaf - do you think they will be accepting assylum seekers free on their books? there is something somewhere that says they must accept them or be classed as being racist or something - am going to look into that matter....

i think britain is gearing up to be like america and make everyone pay for nhs .........

Toothsmith

If a dentist is taking on NHS patients, he has to take on all categories.

Kids, Exempt adults, Fee paying adults, nice ones, smelly ones, rich ones, poor ones, ugly ones, pretty ones, BNP, KKK, Islamic fundamentlists, evangelical christians convicts, rapists, dwarfs, blind, deaf, stupid, etc etc.

If a dentist is not taking on NHS patients, then he isn't accepting anybody on the NHS.

There are still laws on discrimination though, so a dentist could well be in trouble if he refused to see someone privately because they were black or gay or something.

Fraserca

And I thought that these kind, well trained and compassionate professionals wanted a career of hard work saving unfortunate people from pain and ill health.

After all a 9 - 5 job and upwards of £80000 per annum. Its nice of them to actually get their hands in a childs mouth ..

See http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/PressReleases/PressReleasesNotices/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4122769&chk=2tshfK


Quote
"

* a dentist with a high level of commitment to the NHS can expect to earn an average of around £80,000
* the gross income that dentists receive from the NHS is much higher than this, to contribute to the costs of running a practice
* dentists benefit from a generous and secure NHS pension scheme
* dentists benefit from Government investment in high-quality dental education and NHS training - regardless of how much NHS work they go on to do.
"

Smiley_Mum

I currently receive NHS treatment and my kids too, they have excellent dental health due to them not getting sweets etc etc, sugar exacerbates asthma/eczema so their teeth are perfect. Youngest hasn't got any adult teeth yet, and he'll soon be seven, so his main teeth are going to be strong.

Unfortunately, not the case for me, have a lot fillings that need upkeep. Wondering what I'd have to pay on Denplan if it were to come to the crunch and I had to go private with the kids. Anyone got any ideas? Not due for a checkup until a few months yet but I'm a bit concerned.

Toothsmith

Fraserca wrote:

And I thought that these kind, well trained and compassionate professionals wanted a career of hard work saving unfortunate people from pain and ill health.

Basically true. But when a kind caring benefactor buys me a building to work in, and a kind compassionate equipment manufactures gives me some tools and services and upgrades them for free, and I can find good staff prepared to volunteer their services for nothing, and the council will take away my waste for free, and let me off business rates.

When I am supplied with materials free of charge, and someone gives me a computer system including software to help run the place, a decorator and other tradesmen will come and keep everything working & looking decent.

When my kids don't need food, and I have a house to live in that will also be maintained free of charge, then prehaps I could consider working in a system that doesn't cover the overheads.

You may read government spin if you wish, but do you really expect it to tell you the truth?

20 years ago the vast majority of dentists worked within the NHS. Today, they are leaving at a rate of knots.

Do you really think that we would be doing that if we earnt £80 000 pa, and £60 000 pa was enough to cover overheads? Especially the older practitioners, who would only have to put up with it for a few more years to qualify for a (very good) NHS pension?

Fraserca

Show me a poor dentist that can't feed his kids or pay the mortgage on his home. Bleeding hearts...

Any dentist by the age of 40 who doesn't have a lot of money in the bank/ in their house, a decent car, the ability to spend money without thinking about whether the money will run out by the end of the week, good holidays every year etc - Isn't much of a dentist.

My point is that unlike many professionals, dentists are very well paid indeed for doing what is routinely a simple job.

How much do dental technicians get paid in comparison? How many hours does a teacher work?

No sympathy for dentists and their complaints for money, the rest of us manage on a fraction of that salary.
We do the same hours or more ( teachers), many of us spent as much time training ( vets ), many have as much worry and responsibility ( self employed ) yet dentists are above that and feel that they can get a lot more money for less work.

Get real

Toothsmith

When you understand the argument, I'll discuss it with you.

Read some of my previous posts.