Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Publish a detailed evaluation of the dental recovery plan's spending, initiatives, and impact on NHS dentistry access.
Conclusion
The dental recovery plan was never going to deliver its headline ambition that everyone who needs to see an NHS dentist would be able to, and has failed even to deliver the hoped for 1.5 million additional courses of treatment in 2024–25. The plan’s initial promise to expand access in 2024–25 so that everyone who needed to see a dentist would be able to was never aligned to its actual target of an additional 1.5 million courses of treatment. Even this target would have left overall delivery still around 2.6 million courses of treatment short of pre–pandemic levels. The dental recovery plan has failed to deliver the promised additional courses of treatment, the number of new patients seen is actually falling, and slow or no progress has been made on other initiatives. At least £88 million has already been spent on the new patient premium, but 3% fewer new patients have been seen since it was launched in March 2024. Given the public money spent on initiatives that have yielded little or negative results, it is important that NHSE and DHSC produce a transparent evaluation of what government spent on the plan and why it has not had the desired impact on access to NHS dentistry. recommendation DHSC and NHSE must publish their evaluation of the dental recovery plan and what was spent on it. They should write to the Committee as soon as is practical to confirm their final analysis of the plan’s performance in 2024–25, including details of: • how many additional treatments the plan as a whole delivered; • for each of the four main initiatives a breakdown of what they individually achieved; • the final amount spent on each initiative; and • how far the performance in the 2024–25 plan can be continued into 2025–26
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to publish an evaluation of the dental recovery plan, confirming data will be available from Summer 2025 and NHSE expects to report on individual initiatives by Autumn 2025. An initial evaluation on the plan's continuation into 2025-26 will be completed by Summer 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. the data necessary to provide this confirmation will be available from Summer 2025. Factoring in time for analysis of this data NHSE would expect to be able to report on the impact of the individual initiatives by Autumn 2025. The exception to this is spending on dental vans which is anticipated to be £0 as no additional Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have opted to commission a new dental van in 2024- 25. 2d. PAC recommendation: • how far the performance in the 2024–25 plan can be continued into 2025–26. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. continuing in the 2025-26 financial year, subject to an evaluation as to whether this policy is delivering the desired outcomes. This initial evaluation is due to be completed and shared with ministers by Summer 2025. Delivery of care by dentists recruited to these posts will continue into 2025-26 and beyond whilst they remain in post. The incentive is paid over three years, and the expectation is that dentists recruited to these posts will remain for at least this minimum period. There will also be longer term benefits arising from the increase to the minimum Units of Dental Activity (UDA) value.