New patient premium starts to offer dentists cash incentives to take on new NHS patients
Dental practices will benefit from extra cash for taking on new NHS patients from today (Friday 1 March) in the latest milestone in the government and NHS’s plan to make millions more dental appointments available.
The new patient premium will mean that participating NHS practices can benefit from payments of either £50 or £15, depending on care, for each new patient treated. This will apply for any patient who has not seen an NHS dentist over the past two years. The level of the payment will depend on the complexity of the treatment required and is on top of existing funding the practice receives for treating patients.
Dentists delivering core NHS services including examination, diagnosis and treatment, will be eligible for the new patient premium. The premium will be paid to dental practices automatically after treating a patient who has not been seen within the past two years.
Through the scheme and wider measures in the dental recovery plan – which is backed by £200 million – the government and NHS aims to deliver an extra 2.5 million appointments for patients over the next 12 months.
The plan builds on existing work to improve access to dentistry, with the government investing more than £3 billion each year to support the sector. Last year, 1.7 million more adults and around 800,000 more children saw an NHS dentist compared to the previous year.
Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said:
Primary Care Minister Andrea Leadsom said:
The scheme is particularly designed to improve the oral health of those who do not have an existing relationship with a dental practice. The latest GP Patient Survey – based on January to March 2023 data – shows that patients who have no relationship with an NHS practice had a 33% success rate in accessing care, whereas patients already known to a dental practice had an 83% success rate.
The new patient premium will mean that around 1 million new patients – defined as patients who have not seen an NHS dentist in two years or more – will be able to access appointments.
Jason Wong MBE, Interim Chief Dental Officer for England, said:
Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS England National Director for Primary Care and Community Services said:
The plan also includes measures to boost the dental workforce – including by implementing measures in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to increase training places for dental professionals by 40% by 2032.
The government has also recently launched a consultation on cutting red tape so that dentists who have been trained overseas are able to practice in the NHS more quickly. Around 30% of all dentists on the General Dental Council’s register qualified outside of the UK.
The plan also outlines how the government will reform the dental contract to make NHS work more attractive – building on reforms brought in 2022 to incentivise practices to deliver more dental care, including by increasing the amount of money practices receive for high-need patients and allowing dentists to carry out more than their usual contracted NHS work.
Louise Ansari, CEO at Healthwatch England said: