On behalf of Public Health Directorate
The consultation into dental contract reform has been completed and published, please see the links below:
NHS dentistry contract: quality and payment reforms – GOV.UK
Major boost for millions of NHS dental patients – GOV.UK
Summary reproduced from the document:
Overall, the proposals set out in the consultation aim to deliver the following improvements:
- an improvement in oral health inequalities due to an increase in the numbers of patients with more complex needs being able to access NHS dental care, and a decrease in unnecessary check-ups
- more consistent delivery of evidence-based care through the new holistic care pathways, which will integrate treatment and prevention
- an increase in unscheduled care provision to support everyone with unscheduled care need to access it, incorporating the government’s commitment to deliver additional urgent appointments
- an increase in proactive preventative actions to secure children’s oral health for the future
- increased dental contract delivery, improved job satisfaction and a more stable dental sector on which we can build longer term reform
The implementation of the programme will start from April 2026 and more details will be published in due course.
