What would the profession like to see emerge when the new NHS contract finally hits the light?

THIS is another in the series of combined blogs/articles to be offered by the syndication of Dental Practice journal and specialist website www.2020Dentistry.com. It is part of a concerted effort to get the dental community’s input to a conversation about proposed changes to dental care. For ease of access and greater awareness about this conversation we will also be integrating the contents across social media.
It now seems ages since Professor Steele outlined proposals for a new NHS contract that would shake off UDAs and reward preventive care but it looks as if the final shape of that contract won’t be ironed out any time soon. However, new developments are still taking their faltering steps towards the light. Details about prototypes replacing the current pilots that should contain at least some details of the final model have recently been released by the Department of Health. The first prototypes will be set at the end of 2015 and if they are successful more may be added in 2017/18 and 2018/19, which is said to be the “earliest date at which a reformed contract could become a ‘main stream’ approach.”
The time scale is more than adequate for the profession to have a conversation around the subject which, if it is listened to, will hopefully lead to templates being created for a fairer and more sustainable dental contract.
The prototypes are described as using a “blended” system, with the practice’s NHS contract value split between capitation and activity, and the much discussed “clinical pathway” will underpin their design. They will also include a dental quality and outcomes framework (DQOF), which will account for 10% of the practice remuneration, but it is in the remaining 90% that major changes will occur. Whatever the final shape will be is still very much in the clouds, it could see NHS dentists salaried like medical GPs and opticians, or perhaps we will see a new way of measuring activity based on successful outcomes – let’s call them Units of Clinical Excellence!
The new treatment band 1A is now dedicated to purely preventative care. This could prove important news for therapists and hygienists and practices with the appropriate skills mix for direct access contracts should the NHS take up the gauntlet and start providing such relevantly trained DCPs with provider numbers. How this might affect the income of those members of the team with evolving skills, especially those found in corporate, privately owned and pure NHS practices is an important conversation the dental community must surely have.
And outside the pilots and prototypes the profession is not standing still. All over the UK dental teams are engaging in innovative activities with their local community in order to raise awareness about oral health and preventive care. Should those engaged in these activities be recognised as the everyday heroes of dentistry who are all too often overlooked in the stampede to seek out the reprehensible? We think so.
Let us know what you would like to see when the new contract takes its final shape, and tell us whether you have grown cynical about the whole process of contract reform as the dates for its final establishment seem to stretch further and further into the future.
And are members of your team engaged in activities out in the community to raise awareness about oral health such as school visits or trips to care homes. Are they setting up stalls at fetes or car boot sales?
Contact Dental Practice by e-mail to derek@aemorgan.co.uk or join the forum at 2020Dentistry.com.