Learning from contract change in primary care dentistry: A qualitative study of stakeholders in the north of England

In April 2006, primary care National Health Service (NHS) dental services in England and Wales began operating under a ‘new’ general dental services (nGDS) contract. Fundamentally, three major changes impacted upon NHS dental services at this time. Firstly, financial resources for NHS dentistry became overtly ‘cash limited’ [1] when resources were devolved to Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England and Local Health Boards (LHBs) in Wales from the national budget. The devolution of resources and decision-making responsibilities to PCTs and LHBs marked the beginning of local dental commissioning which in turn opened potential opportunities for the local prioritisation of resources [2].

Source: Health Policy - February 25, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: R.D. Holmes, J.G. Steele, C. Donaldson, C. Exley Source Type: research