Less than half of Scottish dentists are taking new NHS patients

A report to the Scottish Parliament's health committee said it would be difficult to meet without a significant increase in NHS dentists.

Fewer than half of dentists were accepting new NHS patients, the Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Dental Health Institute report said.

In some places, the figure fell below 20%, it found.

The survey by the body, which is based at King's College in London, provided a detailed insight into access to NHS Scotland dental services.

Two-tier system

It criticised many of the government's current dental policies and recommended a two-tier local and national strategy be put in place.

The report was presented to MSPs on Tuesday and stated: "The pledge of free check-ups for all by 2007 is going to be difficult to fulfil without a significant increase in the number of dentists providing NHS Scotland treatment, particularly in areas of low access.

"Furthermore, very few dentists anticipate increasing their NHS Scotland provision of services."

Its figures revealed only 37% of dentists were accepting all categories of patients on the NHS and 42% were not accepting children.

If we are serious about improving oral health we must ensure that our dentists are properly resourced to carry out a proper check-up which will reveal any potential problems Mike Rumbles Liberal Democrats

In the Borders and Grampian, more than 80% of dentists were refusing to take NHS patients compared with just 30% in Glasgow.

The study also showed that only 3.5% of dentists would consider spending more time treating NHS patients.

The report claimed plans to lure retired dentists back to work with incentives were "unlikely to be successful" and that the use of dentists on a fixed salary to provide better access primary care dentistry had produced mixed results.

The experts called for more flexibility to correct problems locally, coupled with a broader national strategy to ensure dentists received the right incentives to commit to providing NHS Scotland services.

They concluded that addressing recruitment and retention problems for dentists and dental nurses was a priority.

Rate increase

The findings back up the British Dental Association's argument that the Scottish Executive is not paying dentists enough for NHS work.

The current NHS rate for a check-up is �7.05 and the association is asking for the rate to be put up to nearer �20, in line with private payments.

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Mike Rumbles backed the BDA's calls for an increase in NHS pay rates.

He said: "This new research confirms what I have argued for some time.

The executive must now act urgently on the findings of this report, otherwise, my fear is that this dental crisis will get even worse Shona Robison SNP

"If we are serious about improving oral health we must ensure that our dentists are properly resourced to carry out a proper check-up which will reveal any potential problems.

"The executive must take the findings of this report onboard and act accordingly."

The Scottish National Party's health spokeswoman Shona Robison also called on the executive to take action after the committee heard there were only 5.57 dentists per 10,000 people in Scotland compared with 12.75 in Norway.

She said: "Scotland is seriously lagging behind our European neighbours who, in some cases, have more than double the number of dentists per head of population than are working in this country.

"Despite the Executive's commitment to offer free dental check-ups to every person in Scotland by 2007, they seem to have made little progress in finding qualified dentists to meet demand.

"The executive must now act urgently on the findings of this report, otherwise, my fear is that this dental crisis will get even worse."

Rhona Brankin recognised there were problems in dental services

Deputy health minister Rhona Brankin recognised there were problems surrounding access to NHS dental services across Scotland.

She said: "We recognise that delivering free dental checks will be a challenge but it is a challenge we intend to meet.

"We have already introduced a number of short to medium-term measures aimed at improving recruitment and retention and are taking steps to increase the output of dental graduates in Scotland.

"We recognise the need to adopt a long-term view on dental care in Scotland and we will be announcing shortly our response to the recent consultation on modernising NHS dental services.

"The response will include further measures to support NHS dentistry."