Can an NHS dentist run out of budget?
Discussion
Email this morning which states there's no more money but you can come back after April 1
Dear Patient,
NHS Treatment Availability
Each dental practice is allocated a fixed amount of NHS funding to provide services during
each financial year. Due to high demand at our practice, we are currently operating at full
NHS capacity.
To ensure continuity of care, a limited amount of NHS funding has been reserved for:?
Patients currently undergoing treatment
Children
Patients who are exempt from paying NHS fees
Dental emergencies
For NHS purposes, dental emergencies are defined as severe pain, swelling, or bleeding.
The following options are available to you:
1. Non-urgent NHS treatment
Non-urgent NHS care may need to be deferred until 1st April, when normal NHS
services are expected to resume. Alternatively, you may choose to continue your
treatment under our private concessionary price plan, which has been designed to
be economically priced. Please see fee comparison below.
2. Treatment at a sister practice
We can offer NHS appointments at one of our sister practices where NHS capacity is
still available:
Two I have redacted
3. Exceptional circumstances
If you are physically unable to attend one of our sister practices, we may be able to
offer treatment at your usual practice under exceptional circumstances. In these
cases, the NHS claim would be processed remotely by one of our sister practices.
Please contact us for further information.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and would like to reassure you that we
always act with your best interests in mind.
NHS Fees
Private Concessionary Fees
Band 1
£27.40
Band 1
£32.00
Band 2
£75.30
Band 2
£86.60
Band 3
£326.70
Band 3
£375.70
Dear Patient,
NHS Treatment Availability
Each dental practice is allocated a fixed amount of NHS funding to provide services during
each financial year. Due to high demand at our practice, we are currently operating at full
NHS capacity.
To ensure continuity of care, a limited amount of NHS funding has been reserved for:?
Patients currently undergoing treatment
Children
Patients who are exempt from paying NHS fees
Dental emergencies
For NHS purposes, dental emergencies are defined as severe pain, swelling, or bleeding.
The following options are available to you:
1. Non-urgent NHS treatment
Non-urgent NHS care may need to be deferred until 1st April, when normal NHS
services are expected to resume. Alternatively, you may choose to continue your
treatment under our private concessionary price plan, which has been designed to
be economically priced. Please see fee comparison below.
2. Treatment at a sister practice
We can offer NHS appointments at one of our sister practices where NHS capacity is
still available:
Two I have redacted
3. Exceptional circumstances
If you are physically unable to attend one of our sister practices, we may be able to
offer treatment at your usual practice under exceptional circumstances. In these
cases, the NHS claim would be processed remotely by one of our sister practices.
Please contact us for further information.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and would like to reassure you that we
always act with your best interests in mind.
NHS Fees
Private Concessionary Fees
Band 1
£27.40
Band 1
£32.00
Band 2
£75.30
Band 2
£86.60
Band 3
£326.70
Band 3
£375.70
It's not they run out of budget, more they've been paid for X amount of work which they've mostly done so they're ringfencing the remaining for those in particular need.
If you'd been paid for Y hours a year you wouldn't (I'm assuming) do more than that out of the kindness of your heart.
If you'd been paid for Y hours a year you wouldn't (I'm assuming) do more than that out of the kindness of your heart.
I've just experienced similar with my dentist. I've been with them on the NHS for years and years.
Had a routine check up booked in for this month (booked 12 months ago!) and they called a few weeks ago to say they wouldn't be able to carry out the check up, I could pay £50 for the privilege though.
Alternatively they said I could call back in April to see if they can do it via the NHS then?
Had a routine check up booked in for this month (booked 12 months ago!) and they called a few weeks ago to say they wouldn't be able to carry out the check up, I could pay £50 for the privilege though.
Alternatively they said I could call back in April to see if they can do it via the NHS then?
Dental contracts are paid based on the delivery of an agreed volume of units of care (UDA). The volume of these in each contract is determined by a number of things, like previous year activity, demand and changes to population. Most importantly how much money each NHS Commissioning area has to spend... and this year (2025/26) is the first year the commissioners have been instructed to not overspend.
In previous years additional activity was often funded without question. This year it is not.
Providers of all NHS care are being instructed to manage within the volume they have been commissioned to deliver (including hospitals). The result being the waiting times for most services will increase.
In previous years additional activity was often funded without question. This year it is not.
Providers of all NHS care are being instructed to manage within the volume they have been commissioned to deliver (including hospitals). The result being the waiting times for most services will increase.
Just had a letter from my NHS dentist saying they no longer do NHS appointments and are now private only, and included details of their insurance cover plan, cheapest being £17/m for one checkup and hygiene visit per year. Haven't read it fully but I assume it includes a level of cover should I need work doing. Tempted to go off plan and chance it.
Annoying!
Annoying!
The Gauge said:
Just had a letter from my NHS dentist saying they no longer do NHS appointments and are now private only, and included details of their insurance cover plan, cheapest being £17/m for one checkup and hygiene visit per year. Haven't read it fully but I assume it includes a level of cover should I need work doing. Tempted to go off plan and chance it.
Annoying!
Pisses me off no end. £70/mth now on Denplan for wife and I and the dentist looks in our mouths for about 45 seconds every 6 months. All the routine stuff dentists used to do on the NHS is done by hygienists now.Annoying!
We play a game now of going in together to see how long the one of us not in the chair can keep her talking.
Sheepshanks said:
The Gauge said:
Just had a letter from my NHS dentist saying they no longer do NHS appointments and are now private only, and included details of their insurance cover plan, cheapest being £17/m for one checkup and hygiene visit per year. Haven't read it fully but I assume it includes a level of cover should I need work doing. Tempted to go off plan and chance it.
Annoying!
Pisses me off no end. £70/mth now on Denplan for wife and I and the dentist looks in our mouths for about 45 seconds every 6 months. All the routine stuff dentists used to do on the NHS is done by hygienists now.Annoying!
We play a game now of going in together to see how long the one of us not in the chair can keep her talking.
I suppose they'll find more work to do on my teeth once I'm private!!
My kids are with an NHS dentist, they go 3 times a year and, I'm genuinely not exaggerating, their teeth are inspected for less than 40s by the Dentist. There's an assistant who types the code-speak into a computer. I spend more time signing a form on the way in and a form on the way out. Being generous, it's 6 minutes work for two people each year.
They've just written to me explaining how they can't make any money from the NHS providing this service to me, so instead I need to pay £8 a month for my 9 year old and £12 per month for my 11 year-old. £2,400 per hour they're asking for if your maths is a bit rusty.
Am I wrong to think that the problem is that the state pays to train dentists, but hasn't paid for enough and now they're simply refusing to work for the state, because now they can just pluck a number from the sky. Needs sorting out.
They've just written to me explaining how they can't make any money from the NHS providing this service to me, so instead I need to pay £8 a month for my 9 year old and £12 per month for my 11 year-old. £2,400 per hour they're asking for if your maths is a bit rusty.
Am I wrong to think that the problem is that the state pays to train dentists, but hasn't paid for enough and now they're simply refusing to work for the state, because now they can just pluck a number from the sky. Needs sorting out.
paulrockliffe said:
My kids are with an NHS dentist, they go 3 times a year and, I'm genuinely not exaggerating, their teeth are inspected for less than 40s by the Dentist. There's an assistant who types the code-speak into a computer. I spend more time signing a form on the way in and a form on the way out. Being generous, it's 6 minutes work for two people each year.
They've just written to me explaining how they can't make any money from the NHS providing this service to me, so instead I need to pay £8 a month for my 9 year old and £12 per month for my 11 year-old. £2,400 per hour they're asking for if your maths is a bit rusty.
Am I wrong to think that the problem is that the state pays to train dentists, but hasn't paid for enough and now they're simply refusing to work for the state, because now they can just pluck a number from the sky. Needs sorting out.
But not all kids are in and out like that. You only need a small percentage of patients who need a lot of work and your budget is blown.They've just written to me explaining how they can't make any money from the NHS providing this service to me, so instead I need to pay £8 a month for my 9 year old and £12 per month for my 11 year-old. £2,400 per hour they're asking for if your maths is a bit rusty.
Am I wrong to think that the problem is that the state pays to train dentists, but hasn't paid for enough and now they're simply refusing to work for the state, because now they can just pluck a number from the sky. Needs sorting out.
The checkups that last 45 seconds do not fill me with confidence that I'd get decent treatment were I to go back as a private patient.
My previous dental practice (I'm currently not with one due to cost) was a little shady as they posted patient reviews of their own practice on various websites. The owners also had a practice shut down at their previous premises about 40 miles away due to some financial irregularities. They also refused to keep replacing a filling that kept falling out, so now I have a molar with half of it missing.
Not doing NHS treatment any more was all the incentive I needed to not bother with them any more.
My previous dental practice (I'm currently not with one due to cost) was a little shady as they posted patient reviews of their own practice on various websites. The owners also had a practice shut down at their previous premises about 40 miles away due to some financial irregularities. They also refused to keep replacing a filling that kept falling out, so now I have a molar with half of it missing.
Not doing NHS treatment any more was all the incentive I needed to not bother with them any more.
Liamjrhodes said:
My dentist recently did the same, I had been going for an annual check up since I was a small child but now its private only and you can only get an appointment if you sign up for the monthly cover.
That's not good.Just phoned my dentist and it's now £69 for a private checkup, and £82 for hygiene visit, according to their AI receptionist, so £151/year
Their basic dental plan is £16.26/month (£195.12/year) which includes
1 x annual checkup
1 x hygiene appointment
Routine monitoring X-rays
10% discount an any additional work needed
Edited by The Gauge on Wednesday 16th September 15:13
The Gauge said:
That's not good.
Just phoned my dentist and it's now £69 for a private checkup, and £82 for hygiene visit, according to their AI receptionist, so £151/year
Dental plan is £17/month which includes 1 x annual checkup & 1 x hygiene appointment is £204 but I assume it covers 'towards' any additional work
It even has two levels of membershipJust phoned my dentist and it's now £69 for a private checkup, and £82 for hygiene visit, according to their AI receptionist, so £151/year
Dental plan is £17/month which includes 1 x annual checkup & 1 x hygiene appointment is £204 but I assume it covers 'towards' any additional work
Edited by The Gauge on Tuesday 15th September 16:11
£23.10 a month for 2 examinations and 2 hygiene appointments a year
or
£33.50 a month for 2 examinations and 4 hygiene appointments a year
Both with a 15% discount on all other treatments
Examinations are £73
Hygiene visit is £85
So the monthly is cheaper but who really needs to go see the dentist 4 times a year!
I think they are struggling to find a way forward for dentistry. In Wales, we were told last year that going forward anyone deemed to be 'looking after their teeth' would no longer have choice of NHS dentist. We would instead be contacted by appointment and assigned one from region (could be different each time). I live in Powys, so this means I could be sent quite far away - happened in Covid, told not to use my usual doc/surgery 5 mins from house, had to travel 50 mins to Brecon.
Luckily Wales has now dropped this idea and is looking at other options. My dentist was relieved - they were concern it would lose consistency of care, i.e. same dentist seeing ongoing patient. My gut feeling is they were worried that based in Swansea they'd get all the hard/slow cases and not the quick check ups.
Luckily Wales has now dropped this idea and is looking at other options. My dentist was relieved - they were concern it would lose consistency of care, i.e. same dentist seeing ongoing patient. My gut feeling is they were worried that based in Swansea they'd get all the hard/slow cases and not the quick check ups.
The Gauge said:
Just had a letter from my NHS dentist saying they no longer do NHS appointments and are now private only, and included details of their insurance cover plan, cheapest being £17/m for one checkup and hygiene visit per year. Haven't read it fully but I assume it includes a level of cover should I need work doing. Tempted to go off plan and chance it.
Annoying!
I dont pay monthly and been once since I was 16 (37 now). Total spend has been £300 or something. Annoying!
Wife and I have used private dentistry for maybe the past 40 years. No insurance, so we have to regard it as a cost out of income whenever needed. Current costs are around £102 for a routine appointment with a hygienist lasting maybe 30 minutes, and the same for a check up with a dentist but probably a shorter time . Required corrective dentistry is, of course, dependent on what's needed to be done, and does not come cheap. In the past 18 months my wife had to have 3 very old implants replaced and an estimate for each stage and cost etc was sent to us, so at least we knew what we were in for!
The dentistry we have used for the last 20 years or so is a specialist practice to which many patients are referred for non standard work. They do not usually add routine regular patients but, exceptionally, years ago they offered to take on my wife on this basis and I was added afterwards. I can say that in our opinion the service and quality of work is superb, but expensive.
R.
The dentistry we have used for the last 20 years or so is a specialist practice to which many patients are referred for non standard work. They do not usually add routine regular patients but, exceptionally, years ago they offered to take on my wife on this basis and I was added afterwards. I can say that in our opinion the service and quality of work is superb, but expensive.
R.
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