NHS Confederation responds to the government's announcement that extra urgent dental appointments will be rolled out across England

Responding to the government's announcement that 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments will be rolled out across England, Ruth Rankine, director of the primary network at the NHS Confederation said:

“NHS leaders share the commitment to improve access to dentistry services and welcome this announcement as part of the government’s manifesto commitment to roll out extra urgent appointments across the country to fix the crisis in NHS dentistry.

“Integrated Care Boards play an essential role in addressing oral health inequalities and improving access to NHS dental care. We know from our members that delivering supervised toothbrushing to children living in the most deprived areas in England will ensure a population health management approach to oral health is taken. Improving access to primary care dentistry services is also important, so it is a step in the right direction to have extra appointments delivered at ‘dental deserts.’

“However, finances must accurately reflect the cost of treatment as the additional 700,000 urgent dental appointments promised by the Government alone will not improve the long-term oral health of the population. Further clarity is needed to understand how the government plans to address ‘dental deserts’ where more deprived or rural local authority areas have fewer NHS dentists than those in more affluent urban areas to improve equitable access.  

“The ten-year health plan must commit to reforming the dentistry contract focusing on outcomes and incentivising prevention. The outdated Units of Dental Activity payment model should be overhauled.

“We need to be radical in reforming the current system and welcome the 2025/26 NHS Planning Guidance which emphasises improving access to dental care and committing to consulting on much-needed reforms to the dental contracts.”