Today, Owl publishes three articles on NHS dentistry and the “Recovery Plan” launched in February 2024 under the previous government.

Just one dentist takes up £20k ‘golden hello’ in Devon 

Sums the plan’s impact up pretty well – Owl

Investigation into the NHS dental recovery plan – NAO report

Explains what the recovery plan seeks to do and what isn’t working – such as the basic contract needs fundamental reform and expenditure on dentistry has fallen in real terms.

NAO concludes the plan is unlikely to deliver an additional 1.5 million treatments by March 2025. Even if this target was achieved, it would still mean 2.6 million fewer treatments compared to before the pandemic.

Damning – Owl

NHS Dentistry In England Explained | The King’s Fund

An explanation of the Byzantine complexity of the the current NHS dentistry system in England, commissioned by the NHS and published by The Kings Fund in October 2023.

In Owl’s opinion, only a hard core bureaucrat could dream up something like this, so we shouldn’t be surprised that it doesn’t work!