Recommendation 11

DHSC told us that it believed that those reforms “made a useful difference” and were a “step in the right direction”.21 We note, however, that the NAO report found that it saw no evidence of a full evaluation of these reforms.22 NHSE said that it recognised since the 2022 reforms that further reform is “absolutely fundamental”.23 The new government has also committed to contract reform.24 Given the length of time in which the dental contract has been identified as a barrier to improving NHS dental access, we pressed DHSC and NHSE on when they could deliver this. DHSC said that it is not possible to give a timeframe, but that some reform is “fairly imminent”, and that it could look to provide a timeframe on what can be done within the current framework, while beyond that much rests with political decisions.25 In written evidence following our session, NHSE and DHSC told us that they are working with representatives of the dental sector and patient groups to “fully consider the options at pace”, and that while these fundamental reforms are being developed work is ongoing on medium–term changes to improve the current NHS dental contract.26