NHS dental payment reform: business and regulatory impact assessment

Consultation

With the Sector

There have been a sequence of consultations on payment reform with the sector interrupted by the pandemic emergency.

Oral Health Improvement Plan (2018)

The product of a comprehensive national consultation exercise with the sector in 2016, with 427 responses, and 564 attendees at a series of roadshow events. Reflecting on the discussions with the sector the Plan committed the Scottish Government to introduce a “simplified set of item of service payments”. While radical changes to payments were considered as part of these discussions, the view was that the current system of payment could be retained, but substantial changes were required to ensure future-proofing and engagement with newly qualified NHS dentists.

Design Group Phase (2019)

Looking specifically at how prevention-based dentistry could be suitably supported in a future iteration of payment reform, the Scottish Government convened two Design Groups comprising GDPs and other specialist commentators to help co-design a new model of oral health care. This work was interrupted by the onset of the pandemic.

Pandemic/Recovery and Payment Reform (2020-23)

During the pandemic the main objective of the Scottish Government was to preserve the sector through emergency support payments. Following the relaxation of IPC measures in April 2022 the Government revisited payment reform.

On the 28 June 2022 the then Cabinet Secretary for Health wrote to all NHS dental teams inviting them to comment on treatment items to be included in a future NHS payment model. 557 responses were received and analysed to form the basis for a new system of item of service payments. The CDO convened an Advisory Group comprising GDPs, and other members of the dental team, from each NHS Board area to help co-design the new suite of payments with regular updates to the wider sector.