Dental News - NHS overhaul sparks fears for dental public health

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 17. April 2025

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LONDON, England: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced plans to abolish National Health Service (NHS) England, aiming to integrate its functions directly into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). This restructuring seeks to eliminate job duplication between the two entities, resulting in a 50% reduction in staff. The government asserts that this move will cut bureaucracy and redirect resources towards hiring more nurses and doctors, for example. The dental industry’s response, however, has been less than enthusiastic.

A recent press release from the DHSC stated that “NHS England will be brought back into [DHSC] to put an end to the duplication resulting from two organisations doing the same job in a system currently holding staff back from delivering for patients.” Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting explained: “When money is so tight, we cannot justify such a complex bureaucracy with two organisations doing the same jobs. We need more doers and fewer checkers, which is why I’m devolving resources and responsibilities to the NHS front line.”

However, this decision has raised significant concerns within the dental profession. The British Dental Association (BDA) warns that such a substantial reduction in staff could critically undermine dental public health functions, which have already been weakened over the past decade. The BDA highlighted that the number of dental public health consultants has dwindled from six to just two since the transfer of dental public health responsibilities from Public Health England to DHSC. Further cuts could erode this capacity even more, jeopardising efforts to focus on preventive dental care.

The restructuring is projected to save approximately £175 million (€209 million^*) annually, but places around 6,500 jobs at risk across NHS England and DHSC. Speaking in a BDA press release, Prof. Robert Witton, chair of the BDA’s Dental Public Health Committee, expressed concern over the extent and severity of these cuts. “The cuts at NHS England are unprecedented. There’s no duplication of effort with dedicated dental public health professionals, who are already in very short supply. Government wants to shift the focus from treatment to prevention. Putting these jobs on the line won’t achieve that goal.”

The BDA has urged NHS England and DHSC to safeguard the dental public health consultant workforce, emphasising that any further reductions could irreversibly hinder the ability to promote and measure public oral health effectively. This appeal underscores the broader apprehension that the proposed cuts may exacerbate existing challenges in dental health services, potentially leading to increased oral health disparities and unmet dental care needs.

Editorial note:

^* Calculated on the OANDA platform for 10 March 2025.

Topics:

Public Health Dentistry

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Dental funding NHS UK dental crisis

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