Just one dentist takes up ‘golden hello’

Just one dentist has taken a £20,000 cash windfall as part of efforts to secure more practitioners in underserved areas of Devon.

The national NHS Dental Recovery Plan, which launched in February, created a £20,000 ‘golden hello’ incentive to recruit NHS dentists to areas that have historically struggle to recruit them or to retain them in the face of competition from private practice.

Funding for a total of up to 240 dentists across England was made available by the government.

Devon secured 17 of those, an allocation it was awarded in October.

But in nearly two months of the scheme running, just one dentist has taken the incentive in Devon.

The scheme does have certain stipulations, namely that dentists need to remain in post for three years to receive the full £20,000.

The state of dentistry in Devon was the subject of a debate in Westminster Hall this month, with Richard Foord MP (Liberal Democrat, Honiton and Sidmouth), stating the South West was a “special case” and that some of his constituents who needed treatment were only able to find available appointments 80 miles from their homes.

Mr Foord said 51 per cent of adults in the South West had access to a dentist in 2015, the same as the national average, but that these figures had now fallen to 40 per cent for England and 34 per cent for Devon.

The pressure on the sector has been exacerbated by the fact Devon now only has 497 dentists compared to 549 in 2020.

A spokesperson for NHS Devon said it was too early to know how the level of take-up of the ‘golden hello’ scheme compared with other counties.

Asked if the scheme would help it secure the number of dentists it wanted, the spokesperson said the organisation did not usually set specific targets for recruiting NHS dentists.

“We are focused on working with our providers to improve access to dental care and meet local oral health needs,” the spokesperson said.

“Recruitment efforts are shaped by challenges such as national dentist shortages and the difficulty of retaining NHS dentists due to workload and contract issues.