Cash sweetener being offered to Devon dentists to take on more urgent cases

Devon’s NHS is offering dentists a higher payment for taking on urgent patient cases in a bid to hit its stretching government target.

The county’s health service said it was offering an ‘enhanced rate’ to dentists that agreed to offer urgent patient appointments.

The move comes as Devon will need to increase the number of urgent appointments available by more than 24,000 by March next year, as part of national targets set by government.

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That’s 42 per cent more than its current baseline provision.

NHS Devon said it had worked with all seven integrated care boards across the South West region to “develop a model to engage current providers in increasing take up of urgent care activity.”

Addressing Devon’s health and wellbeing board this week, Dr Peter Collins, from NHS Devon, acknowledged there had been ‘challenges’ in dentistry but that work had been undertaken to rectify the situation.

He said: “Efforts have been made to meet government targets in terms of improving access to urgent dental care and in the context of what we are talking about, I’d like to recognise the commendable efforts in the workplace to provide preventable oral healthcare.”

A second existing scheme has seen the county pledging £377,000 as part of a so-called ‘golden hello’ that pays individual dentists £20,000 over three years to join practices in under-served areas, but so far just two vacancies have been filled out of the targeted 22.

A national evaluation of the scheme is due to take place in the current financial year that ends at the start of April.

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Councillor Julian Brazil, the leader of the council, emphasised to the board his feelings on the situation with dentistry in the county.

“It is a massive issue,” he said.

“We need to look at it and establish key priorities, with smart targets there to see how we are doing and to know what’s working and what isn’t.”