Dental payments shake-up unveiled

Ministers are looking at changing the current dental contract to remove "perverse incentives" which can see financial gains for spreading treatments across different appointments or calling patients back unnecessarily.

Pilots will run in 50 to 60 areas across England next year to test three new models of paying dentists.

All the models will focus on quality - and will include assessment of the "patient experience", safety and outcomes.

Patients will be asked to rate their experience during the appointment, the ease with which they booked their check-up, the dentist's facilities and how their treatment went.

The pilots, which will launch in April, will also look at how many patients a dentist has on his or her list, rather than just the number of treatments being performed. The Government also wants to focus more on children's dental health and to improve access to NHS dentistry for all patients.

Health minister Lord Howe said: "As set out in the NHS White Paper, we are committed to delivering a new contract for NHS dentistry.

"We want to give dentists the freedom to deliver high quality care and reward them for the outcomes they achieve for their patients, not just for the volume of treatment delivered, as is the case now.

"This is about prioritising prevention. People need a dental service that helps them maintain good oral health and prevents decay, rather than one that is based solely on treatment. It is important that we get this absolutely right so that our reforms will give dentists the encouragement they need to provide a service that meets the needs of today's population."

Dr John Milne, from the British Dental Association, said the pilots being tested would explore ways of moving away from the target-driven basis of the current dental contract. He said: "Today's announcement is an important, positive step towards the goal of improving NHS dental care for patients across England."

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