Dentists in England are returning hundreds of millions of pounds a year to the government for unfulfilled NHS care, the BBC has learnt.<\/p>\n
Over the last two years, more than \u00a3900m has been handed back – \u00a31 out of every \u00a37 they have been paid – as dentists instead prioritise private work.<\/p>\n
The findings help explain why despite record sums being set aside for NHS dentistry, so many patients are struggling to get one – more than a fifth of people report not being able to access care when they need it.<\/p>\n
The government said improvements were being made this year and any money returned was reinvested into services.<\/p>\n
Under the NHS contract, dentists agree how much NHS work they are going to provide during the year and receive monthly payments from the health service for that.<\/p>\n
If a dental practice underdelivers \u2013 classed as below 96% of the contract value \u2013 the NHS then recoups money from practices the following year.<\/p>\n
In 2024-25, more than \u00a3450m was returned, BBC analysis of NHS accounts shows, while nearly \u00a3480m was returned the year before. In each year, more than 40% of dentists had to hand back money.<\/p>\n
It represents a sharp rise in the sums returned in previous years.<\/p>\n
It comes as the Competition and Markets Authority is expected to announce on Thursday it is launching an investigation into the private dentistry market and the fees being charged.<\/p>\n
Nikita Jenkins, 27, from Cornwall, is one of millions of people who has struggled to access NHS dental care.<\/p>\n
She has not seen one for 14 years and has been forced to pay privately for her two young daughters to get treatment as she was told waiting lists locally were seven years long.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I tried every dentist in and around my area, but it was near impossible.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We were waiting and, in the end, I felt like we had no choice but to take the jump and pay to go private, to ensure that our children had the right health care.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Jenkins says there are already so many costs to pay out for, so this is just another thing to \u00ab\u00a0add to the list.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Dentistry feels like a luxury, not a necessity, because it’s just so inaccessible, which shouldn’t be the case – especially for children,\u00a0\u00bb she told the BBC.<\/p>\n
British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch said dentists were being left with no choice because the current contract, which is now 20 years old, meant dentists were struggling to make money working for the health service.<\/p>\n
The union said the sums that could be earned in the private sector for things like new patient exams, fillings and extractions were twice what the NHS paid.<\/p>\n
They said for new patient exams in the NHS, the typical dentist could lose \u00a37 per patient because the costs outweighed what they were paid.<\/p>\n
Crouch added: \u00ab\u00a0It’s the simple fact we now have dentists losing money delivering NHS care.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It might suit the Treasury but no healthcare professional can be expected to work this way.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
While the money that is returned is largely for a failure to fulfil contracts, it is sometimes handed back if audits find a practice has incorrectly claimed too much for NHS treatments. This only accounts for a small fraction of the total sum.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Curtayne, from patient watchdog Healthwatch England, said: \u00ab\u00a0These figures reflect what people across the country tell us – many cannot get an NHS dental appointment and others find their dentist has stopped providing NHS care altogether and now only offers private treatment.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The impact falls heaviest on those who are already vulnerable, especially people who struggle financially, who are left with nowhere to turn under a dental contract that is simply not fit for purpose.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The government said it had increased the amount dentists get for NHS work and provided \u00a320,000 golden hellos to get dentists to work in areas with the poorest access.<\/p>\n
This is increasing the number of treatments being carried out, the government said.<\/p>\n
It is also looking to fundamentally reform the dentistry contract by the end of the parliament to boost access further.<\/p>\n
Health and social care minister Stephen Kinnock said the government was \u00ab\u00a0making progress\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
But he added: \u00ab\u00a0We know there is more to do to get to the root of the problem.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
An NHS England spokeswoman said the clawback data was effectively \u00ab\u00a0a year behind reality\u00a0\u00bb and money being returned was reinvested into dentistry.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We are working closely with government to introduce further reforms in the coming months.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Elena Bailey and data analysis by Aidan McNamee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dentists in England are returning hundreds of millions of pounds a year to the government for unfulfilled NHS care, the BBC has learnt. Over the last two years, more than \u00a3900m has been handed back – \u00a31 out of every \u00a37 they have been paid – as dentists instead prioritise private work. The findings help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}