DT News - UK - Health secretary’s plan for prevention met with little enthusiasm

Health secretary’s plan for prevention met with little enthusiasm

Matt Hancock, the UK's Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, recently launched a plan for preventing ill health that has been met with criticism from the BDA. (Photograph: Ian Davidson Photography/Shutterstock)

Dental Tribune UK

Mon. 26 November 2018

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LONDON, UK: The British Dental Association (BDA) has questioned the priorities of Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the Cabinet of the UK, after the launch of a plan for preventing ill health earlier this month that, in the view of the BDA, fails to meaningfully engage on wholly preventable oral diseases like dental caries.

A policy paper titled Prevention is Better Than Cure: Our Vision to Help You Live Well for Longer was published by the Department of Health and Social Care on 5 November. The paper outlines Hancock’s plans to emphasise a preventative approach to healthcare, with the goals of improving life expectancy in the UK by five years by 2035 and decreasing the healthcare inequalities between the richest and the poorest segments of the population.

Despite this, the report makes just one reference to improving the oral health of children and does not promise any increase in investment to NHS England’s Starting Well: A Smile4Life Initiative, which is intended to reduce oral health inequalities and improve the oral health of children under 5 years of age.

In response, the BDA highlighted that government spending per person has fallen from £40.95 to £36.00 over the past five years, while patient charges have increased by 23 per cent. Dental caries, the trade union stated, is the main reason for hospital admissions for children aged 5–9, and paediatric extractions in hospitals have cost the NHS £165 million since 2012.

“The Health Secretary says he wants to champion prevention,” said Chair of the BDA’s Principal Executive Committee Dr Mick Armstrong. “Sadly he’s had more to say about broccoli than wholly preventable oral diseases that are costing our NHS millions.”

“When tooth decay remains the number one reason for child hospital admissions, treating dentistry as an afterthought looks more than careless,” he said.

“England’s huge oral health inequalities are fuelled by poverty and the lack of a coherent strategy. The starting point for any solution won’t be ‘big data’ or apps, it requires political will from Westminster and an end to year-on-year cuts,” Armstrong continued.