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Dentists in England to be paid more for emergency NHS appointments
Reforms aim to improve access by incentivising urgent and complex care, potentially saving patients around £225, with changes set to begin in April 2026.
- Government will pay dentists in England more to provide urgent NHS care, incentivising treatment for severe pain, infections or trauma in NHS dental services in England.
- A decade of cuts and falling dentist numbers left the service strained, with UK government spending on dental services falling a quarter in real terms between 2010 and 2020 and 12 million people unable to access NHS dental care last year.
- The contract currently caps procedures and limits patient numbers, paying dentists the same for three or 20 fillings, often leaving practices out of pocket under the current NHS dental contract.
- The Department of Health and Social Care says the reforms could help millions and make the contract more attractive to dentists, while Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said they will ease access for patients with urgent dental needs, preventing avoidable hospital admissions.
- Policy Exchange proposed vouchers to `end the postcode lottery`, but the British Dental Association rejected them, saying reforms `cannot be the end of the road`.
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12 Articles
The IndependentReposted by 
The Independent (US)
The Independent (US)New dentistry proposals could save patients more than £200
·London, United Kingdom
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Total News Sources12
Leaning Left3Leaning Right1Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
L 33%
C 56%
11%
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