Private dental voucher scheme could spell 'the end of NHS dentistry'

Proposals to provide the public with vouchers towards private dental care would ‘mean the end of NHS dental services’, according to the British Dental Association (BDA).

Think tank, the Policy Exchange, recently called for the government to implement a scheme to provide UK adults with vouchers worth £150 a year to be spent on dental care or dental insurance.

Mooting the plan it said: “Attempts at reform have too often resembled the slow pain of pulling teeth – it is time for radical, corrective surgery on the NHS dental system.”

It is a reform that aligns perfectly with a vision of a modern, responsive health service – one that prevents agony rather than just treating it, and one that serves the patient, not bureaucracy

In a foreword to the Policy Exchange report, former Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “A voucher that people could use to pay for dental insurance or a capitation plan could fully cover a basic plan, or act as a co-payment towards a more extensive plan for others.

“Such a system would empower patients, drive up standards through genuine competition, and finally break the deadlock of the current contract.

“It is a reform that aligns perfectly with a vision of a modern, responsive health service – one that prevents agony rather than just treating it, and one that serves the patient, not bureaucracy.”

The report suggests that the scheme would make it more economically sustainable for dentists to provide care and incentivise them to compete on price and quality to attract patients.

However, the BDA said that putting the proposal into action would require the Government to more than triple the dental budget.

And it warned that it would be an ‘extremely-inefficient way of improving access’.

As the vouchers would only be valid in private practices, the BDA said £150 would not even cover 10% of a set of dentures.

The NHS desperately needs investment, but this policy would not end dental deserts. It could easily mean spending more money on less access

And it concluded that the scheme ‘would likely leave the most vulnerable unable to afford care, while subsidising those already paying for private dentistry’.

BDA chair, Eddie Crouch, said: “Calls for a voucher system in NHS dentistry come with the sound of barrels being scraped. 

“The NHS desperately needs investment, but this policy would not end dental deserts. It could easily mean spending more money on less access.

“A struggling service urgently requires real reform and sustainable funding.

“We don’t need distractions, or detours into ideological comfort zones.”

The row comes after Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, ordered a market study into private dentistry.

She wrote to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), urging it to investigate the costs and practices of the private dental sector.

In a statement, she said ‘hidden costs, lack of transparency and overtreatment’ had impacted families in need of dental treatment.