The UK government on Wednesday (7 February) announced a new plan to ensure faster, simpler and fairer access to NHS dental care across England.
Supported by £200m of funding, the plan aims to deliver more than 1.5 million additional NHS dentistry treatments or up to 2.5 million NHS dental appointments
for patients over the next 12 months
NHS dentists will be offered a 'new patient' payment of between £15-£50, depending on treatment need, to treat new patients who have not seen a dentist in two
years or more.
Additionally, one-off payments of up to £20,000 will be given to around 240 dentists for working in under-served areas for up to three years.
This is to "attract new NHS dentists and improve access to dental care in areas with the highest demand," NHS England said in a statement released on Wednesday.
In his first speech as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP acknowledged that the NHS is in crisis while outlining his mission to
save the health service.
Streeting described the current state of the NHS as "broken," noting its failure to meet the needs of both patients and dedicated healthcare professionals.
"When we said during the election campaign, that the NHS was going through the biggest crisis in its history, we meant it.
"When we said that patients are being failed on a daily basis, it wasn't political rhetoric, but the daily reality faced by millions," he said on Friday (5 July).
The new health secretary remarked that previous governments had been unwilling to admit these simple facts.
