Dentists (Hansard, 2 June 1992)

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

[pursuant to the reply 12 May 1992 col. 85]: At a meeting today with representatives of the General Dental Services Committee (GDSC) I put forward fair and reasonable proposals on dentists' remuneration.

For the present year 1992–93 the intention of the Doctors and Dentists Remuneration Review Body (DDRB) was that, on average, a dentist's net earnings should be £35,815. This represented an 8.5 per cent. increase in dentists' net remuneration. The Government accepted this recommendation for a greater increase than was awarded to either doctors or nurses.

The evidence suggests that, if left unchanged, the July 1991 fee scale would provide in 1992–93 very substantially more than the DDRB recommended.

Calculations presented to the GDSC today show that, to bring the increase in dentists' income back to the level recommended by the DDRB, a fee reduction of about 23 per cent. would be needed now. The longer action is delayed, the more this figure rises.

I have weighed all the available evidence carefully. This includes the views put to me by dentists and their representatives, the results of the joint inquiry which the Health Departments and the GDSC began in February, and the emerging data on payments in the last financial quarter of 1991–92 to dentists.

Even allowing for some significant margin for error the evidence suggests that actual income will be much higher than intended income unless action is taken now.

I therefore propose a 7 per cent. lowering of the fee scale with effect from 8 July.

I also propose to reduce to £200 the ceiling at which courses of treatment require prior approval from the Dental Practice Board. It is reasonable in the present circumstances for dentists to have to seek prior approval from the Dental Practice Board of their plans for more expensive treatments. This will apply to some 3 per cent. of courses of treatment carried out.

These proposals represent the best way forward for patients, for dentists and taxpayers. They underline our full commitment to the NHS dental service. The chief executive of the NHS is writing to all regional general 467W managers and family health services authority managers today to stress to them the need to maintain the availability of NHS general dental services, if necessary, by employing salaried dentists.

For the future, the Government remain committed to a fundamental review of dental remuneration. I look to that review to develop a system which more effectively and fairly remunerates all dentists for the important work they do.