Yet another recent news item highlights the postcode lottery surrounding NHS dentistry. A report carried out for the national charity Citizens Advice suggests that one in six people is unable to access NHS dentistry. While dentists will say the new NHS contract does not allow them to give the care they want to, I suspect the underlying reason for leaving the NHS is an inadequate level of fees.
Already the government has responded to the problem by announcing an 11 per cent increase in funding for NHS dentistry in England from 2008 and the report urges primary care trusts to spend newly allocated resources to improve access. So is the lesson, play hardball and you will get the desired result?
Compare this to our own world of optometry and dispensing optics, where we provide excellent optical services with few complaints from consumers or the NHS, where we meet the stated requirements, such as choice, convenience and expertise. On every high street in the land there is access to an NHS examination. In this scenario we are victims of our own success and why would the Department of Health offer more, when all is going well?
There are those who suggest we should follow the dentistry example and exit the NHS unless more realistic fees are paid. This approach is only likely to be successful for a small number of practices, offering a very individual service to an affluent patient base. It will not happen across the board.
Optics would not have the concerted approach of dentistry, especially while there is the cross subsidy of contact lens and spectacle sales. There would have to be a drastic alteration in circumstances for the position to change. Instead, we have to work with the people who can affect our future to get across two key messages. Investment is required, firstly to protect what we have, and secondly to deliver to the NHS overall savings through realising the great fit optical practices have with recent policy statements.
For example, The Prime Minister: 'One of the main challenges that the NHS faces in the coming decades is that of providing high quality, cost effective services for increasing numbers of older people.' Lord Darzi, undertaking a fundamental review of NHS services, further draws attention to the changing role of clinicians and new models of care.
It is not difficult to see how optical professionals have a role to play in the world envisaged by those at the top. We have to make sure those who deal with this on a day-to-day basis connect the strategic intentions to making it happen around the country.
Let's hope we can do that before we have to resort to more drastic action.