This information sets out the Secretary of State’s determination on dental contracts and agreements for 2014/15 and the associated NHS England dental quality and productivity measures.

Contract Uplifts

After taking account of the recommendation of the Doctors and Dentists Review Body (DDRB) the Department of Health has decided to uplift all GDS contracts and PDS agreements by 1.6% to allow for a 1% increase in net pay and for other increases in expenses.  This will automatically be applied by the NHS BSA, and no action is required from area teams.  A full list of changes relating to dental contracts is at Annex A.

General

As part of the package of measures for 14/15, the BDA General Dental Practice Committee has agreed to work with us to support our developing strategic aims for NHS dentistry, particularly:

• To improve the oral health of the population, especially children, hard to reach and vulnerable groups, and to reduce inequalities of outcomes;
• to move to a more preventative approach based on the needs of the individual patient and the population focusing on:
  – quality rather than activity
  – outcomes of care, especially long term outcomes, rather than delivery of treatment
  – continuity of care for patients over a longer period of time;
• Increased integration of care across primary, community and hospital settings;
• ensuring good and equitable access to NHS dentistry.

Efficiencies and other gains

Our efficiency package for 2014/15 is expected to deliver savings across, national and local levels, in line with the rest of the NHS, some 4%, and includes:

• Reducing costs of unnecessary activity
• No increase in funding or weighting of courses of treatment to reflect increased complexity arising from demographic changes;
• Continuation of dental practice computerisation to enable the delivery of the new dental contractual reform proposals;
• Amending dental payments for maternity, paternity and sickness leave
• Reducing dental foundation trainee salaries over time to match the first post registration year for doctors to regain a level playing field in this area.

Annex B sets out our detailed efficiency and savings assumptions.

Implications for Area Teams

Area Teams should take account of the national and local efficiencies.  The package is split into two parts:

• those efficiencies to be delivered by national changes to reimbursement rates, regulations and the Statement of Financial Entitlements, including the changes to Foundation Trainee pay, entitlements and allowances and the tightening of central systems on fraud and activity cycles.
• efficiencies which will have national support, especially from new systems, information and reporting from the NHS BSA, but will need to be delivered by Area Teams, this includes new measures to claw back funding for under-delivery of contracts and reducing unnecessary referrals from primary to secondary care.

The National Support Team and the NHS BSA will be providing further information and guidance to assist Area Teams.

Annex A

Dental Contracts and Agreements – uplifts for 14/15

In respect to General Dental Practitioners (GDPs), the government has accepted the DDRB’s recommendation for an increase of 1% to general dental practitioners’ income after allowing for movement in their expenses, but has abated the increase in the general dental service contract for the  GDP staff costs element of the formula from the recommended 2.5% to 1%. This results in an overall uplift of 1.6% to be applied to gross earnings for independent dental contractors for 2014-15.

Dental contractors who employ a Foundation Trainee, and satisfy the criteria specified in the Statement of Finance Entitlements, receive a training allowance of £753.46 per month.  This should be uplifted by 1% and the figure revised to £761.00 per month.

Foundation Trainee salaries for current cohorts should also be increased by 1% in line with Government’s pay cap.

Annex B

2014/15 dental efficiency and other gains