COLCHESTER will have to wait to see if it receives new “golden hello” NHS dentist funding.
North Essex will receive new "dental recovery vans" under a new government scheme while it is hoped it will also benefit from new £20,000 “golden hello” payments.
The payments will be available for up to 240 dentists – about one per cent of the workforce – to help more dentists work for three years in so-called dental deserts.
An extra £15, on top of the existing £28, will be given to dentists who serve patients who have not visited a dentist per year, as part of an extra £200million in investment.
A spokesperson for the Suffolk and North Essex ICB, which commissions NHS dentistry services, said: “We are pleased to hear in today’s announcement people in Suffolk and north-east Essex will benefit from government plans to introduce dental recovery vans to the area.
"We await information on whether Suffolk and north-east Essex will benefit from the government announcement of ‘golden hello’ payments to new dentists.
The spokesperson added that since the ICB took over dental commissioning in March 2023 they have been "working with providers to amend their contracts and make NHS dental work more of an attractive option for them".
The Suffolk and North Essex ICB is also tackling the "significant problem of avoidable dental issues in young children" through the introduction of supervised toothbrushing in primary schools.
Colchester’s MP Will Quince said the government’s new dentist funding was the “most all-encompassing recovery plan for NHS dentistry ever.
He added: “Our plan will help deliver 2.5 million more appointments per year, through a range of immediate and long term initiatives.”
The British Dental Association slammed the government’s “modest proposal” and said the Department of Health’s spending on dentistry had remained frozen at £3bn for a decade - “meaning real cuts of £1bn since 2010.”
The BDA further noted that the ‘golden hellos scheme’ is “a poor relation” to Scottish schemes which provide £25,000 to new dentists working in rural areas over two years, as opposed to plans to offer dentists in England £20,000 over three.
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