The 2024 Dental Recovery Programme: qualitative evaluation

The Dental Recovery Plan (Feb 2024) aimed to deliver 1.5 million extra NHS dental treatments by incentivising dental teams. Key measures included a New Patient Premium, an uplift to the lowest UDA rates, Golden Hello recruitment payments in hard‑to‑staff areas, and mobile dental vans. Longer‑term prevention and workforce initiatives were also outlined. Independent evaluations found no increase in treatment activity, prompting this study to explore why.

Aims

Understand how ICBs implemented the plan and how well it worked locally.

Explore dentists’ views on the incentives intended to increase NHS activity.

Methods

Interviews were conducted with 11 commissioners/LDC representatives across 5 ICBs and 7 dentists from across England. Sampling ensured a mix of geography, demographics and practice types.

Findings

Commissioners & LDCs

The UDA system was widely viewed as outdated; the uplift helped but was too small to change behaviour.

The New Patient Premium did not cover the real cost of taking on new NHS patients.

Golden Hello payments were seen as poorly designed and sometimes demoralising for existing NHS dentists.

Dental vans were considered impractical for delivering meaningful volumes of care.

Despite limitations, the plan signalled investment and opened useful local conversations. Commissioners wanted greater local flexibility rather than national schemes.

The current dental contract was unanimously seen as unfit for purpose, with outdated UDA baselines and no patient registration system.

Workforce shortages were seen as critical; improving NHS career attractiveness was viewed as essential.

Dentists

The plan was welcomed symbolically but did not create real incentives to see new NHS patients.

Practices already meeting UDA targets could not increase activity; the late introduction of the 10% over‑performance allowance limited impact.

Practices failing to meet targets lacked capacity, and a one‑year payment could not fund sustainable expansion.

Low UDA rates remained a major barrier.

NHS patients were viewed as high‑need, high‑risk, with higher costs, higher DNA rates, and incomplete treatment courses.

Associates reported inconsistent access to New Patient Premium payments.

Dentists echoed commissioners: the contract is not fit for purpose, and NHS careers need to be made more appealing.