I have wondered for a while how I would write about the recent news of access to NHS dentistry, the carnage created in Bristol and then around the country, and the response from the government. It may not be of any interest to anyone what is happening there, but as I've said to many patients and friends who have asked me about the headline News of NHS Dentistry, "It's never a problem for anyone until it is".
Enduring Challenges in NHS Dentistry and Healthcare Services
Our wonderful reception team at The Campbell Clinic fields queries and questions related to this subject on a day-to-day basis, and the problems with NHS dentistry (and the NHS overall in the United Kingdom) are significant and will not go away.
My wife continues to work at Queen's Medical Centre after 25 years, and I first worked there in head and neck surgery when I came to Nottingham. I know from my friends and colleagues who work there how challenging the circumstances are.
I'm also acutely aware of the problems and difficulties related to the NHS dental service, but for all of us working in dentistry, this is not something new; it is a standard and very difficult problem that has existed since at least 2006, but from my working experience, way before that.
Addressing Misconceptions: The Financial and Staffing Crises in NHS Dentistry
The main aspect of the problem is always money, which is related to money. The standard public response to money is that dentists are paid enough and, therefore, it should be fine, but this is to simplify an enormously complex problem.
One of the real significant factors is we simply do not have enough dentists to treat the population, and until that problem is properly solved, all other problems will exist.
The second problem is that in real terms, NHS dental money has fallen significantly over the past 15 years while the rest of the NHS has increased in its funding in real terms.
This is not a post which is meant to in any way make the public feel sorry for dentistry in any shape; it's just to frame the backdrop of how we intend to deal with this problem ourselves and how we hope to help as many people as we can but understanding and considering the fact that we sit outside of the National Health Service.
Between 2008 and 2015, I founded and ran an NHS specialist dental practice in Alfreton, Derbyshire. This was a very successful collaboration with the NHS to provide oral surgery and orthodontics (braces for Children). As part of this process, my business partner and former practice manager Angela Leivers undertook an MBA project study into the effects of introducing a private oral surgery service to alleviate our waiting list.
The main point is that when people choose to access care outside of the NHS, they're able to access the care more quickly (if they have the means to do so) but also remove themselves from a waiting list, which creates more space for other people.
We studied this effect in detail in Alfreton, and it just seemed all the time that everybody was winning.
If you have the means to remove yourself from an NHS waiting list or service to gain access more quickly and sometimes in a better environment, you're then in a position to leave space behind for more people to be treated who are unable to access care in that way.
Many people have difficulty grasping that concept, but it is no different to the concept of private education, where thousands of children a year enter into private education, paid for by their families, leaving space in state education for more children and, in theory, more funding for those children per head.
Our Solution
It is with this in mind that we have decided at The Campbell Clinic to design and, in due course, launch our General Dental service.
The Campbell Clinic has never fundamentally been a general dental practice, but as we have increased capacity and with a plan to develop the fourth unit on our site, we have decided to enter into the world for the provision of general dentistry. As access to general dentistry is so difficult, and the requirements that people need from general dentistry are so much more complex, we feel we are in an exceptional position to provide an extraordinary general dental service for families in our surrounding area.
This will be a capitation service (subscription-based) but will be disruptive and innovative in a way that general dental services have not been before. It will provide an enormous amount of additional extras and the facility and the team at The Campbell Clinic, plus the full support of all the specialist services we provide.
Expanding Access: Our New Service Aims
Over the next few months, we hope to introduce this service to those who do not have access to general dentistry or who have family and friends who do not stop. Watch this space as we begin to tell you about this service, but please feel under no obligation to jump from your wonderful existing provider just to join The Campbell Clinic.
What we wish to do is to offer better care for more people here to, therefore, take the waiting lists down in other places, too.
