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28
Nov 2023
Pannal dental practice stops treating adults on NHS
A Harrogate dental clinic will no longer provide a full NHS service next year because it says it cannot afford to.
Pannal Dental Clinic (PDC) sent letters at the weekend to its patients to let them know of the new arrangements.
The letter, which has been seen by the Stray Ferret, said:
The change came as a shock to some patients, including Pannal resident Petra Turner.
She told the Stray Ferret:
She added:
But Dr Greg Cadman, owner and principal dentist at PDC, said he had no choice but to reduce the NHS contract.
Under a system introduced in 2006, any dental practice working to an NHS contract must fulfil a target of units of dental activity (UDAs) set by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) that gave it the contract.
A check-up is worth one UDA, but a filling is worth three. Confusingly, multiple fillings in one visit still count as three UDAs.
Earlier this year, Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee called the UDA system “not fit for purpose”.
Pannal Dental Clinic has failed to meet its targets in three of the last four years, and missing them carries a penalty known as a “clawback”, where the ICB can claim back the value of the underachieved units.
As a result, the practice had to pay back a large sum of money.
Dr Cadman said:
He said the problem had been exacerbated by the recruitment crisis in the NHS, which had grown more acute since Brexit and the Covid pandemic. He said:
The reduction in PDC’s NHS contract is symptomatic of a national trend. The British Dental Association has said that NHS dentistry is facing a “genuine crisis” of access.
A YouGov survey in March 2023 found that one in five people in the UK (22%) are currently not registered with a dentist, and of these, 37% said this was because they couldn’t find an NHS dentist.
One in 10 (10%) even admitted to attempting their own dental work.
Read more:
- Chatsworth House dental patients in Harrogate to be offered alternative NHS provision
- Health Secretary called upon to keep Ripon dental practice open
- NHS places to be lost as Ripon dental practice closure announced
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