NHS Dentistry Reforms

Changes to NHS Dentistry

On the 1st April 2006, the Government changed the arrangements for NHS dentistry in England [and Wales]. It also introduced a new system of charges that NHS patients pay for their treatment.

At this practice, your dentists decided to continue to provide NHS care under the new terms, but there will be some changes to the way we work. These are described in this leaflet. Your practice team will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the new arrangements. We always aim to provide a high standard of care and service for patients.

Making appointments

The new ways of working mean that patients will no longer be registered with their dentist, but this does not mean that you cannot continue to see your usual dentist. If you ask us for an appointment, we will try to offer you one as soon as possible at a convenient time within the hours we have set aside for NHS patients. The NHS now asks us to provide a fixed, limited amount of NHS care each year and so we have to allocate our time and our NHS budget accordingly.

You can choose which dentist you would like to see at the practice, but it may not always be possible to arrange this because the particular dentist may not have any NHS time available.

Our NHS practice hours are in our patient information leaflet, as well as the times when we can provide urgent treatment for patients at short notice. Urgent treatment means treatment that the dentist considers necessary to relieve severe pain or prevent your oral condition deteriorating before you can make a normal appointment. Out of hours you should call NHS Direct on 0845 4647.

NHS patient charges

The practice team will be happy to answer any questions you have about the new charges.

On the 1st April 2007, Government NHS patient charges changed again. If you pay NHS charges, instead of paying a proportion of the cost of your treatment, you will pay one of four fixed charges relating to the type of care and treatment you have had. The charge bands are given below. If you have a check-up and two fillings, for example, you will pay one Band 2 charge of £43.50. If you need a crown as well, you will pay one Band 3 charge of £194. If you need three crowns you will also pay one Band 3 charge of £194.

Band 1  £15.90; Band 2  £43.40; Band 3  £194.00; Urgent Treatment  £15.90

NHS dental care is still free to all children under 18 or under 20 and still in full-time education as well as pregnant women and new mothers and people on certain state benefits.

Private care

NHS patients can opt to have part of their treatment privately. Private treatment gives you more time with your dentist as well as personal service, greater choice of materials and higher quality laboratory work for a better aesthetic result. There is also a greater range of treatment options available as cosmetic treatment is not available on the NHS. Because the charges are changing, simple private treatment may even be cheaper.

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