Building on the early successes of our Dental Improvement Plan (2024 – 2026)

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside inherited responsibility for NHS Dentistry within our region from NHS England in April 2023, and since then one of our first priorities has been to help tackle some of the challenges currently facing NHS dental care. 

Last spring, we published an ambitious two year Dental Improvement Plan which aims to increase access to both routine and urgent NHS dental care and improve oral health for the local population, backed by an extra £15 million of local funding.

This plan was developed working in close partnership with local professional networks such as the Local Dental Network, Local Dental Committees and NHS England’s North West Dental Public Health team, and has also been closely informed by feedback Healthwatch, local authorities and other key stakeholders.

Two main areas of focus for this work to date have been:

• Incentivising contracts for providers of NHS Dentistry to encourage them to increase capacity for NHS patients 
• Offering additional incentives to providers for supporting vulnerable patient groups

Although there is still much work to do, some of the key areas of progress and early impact from the first year of the plan’s delivery (April 2024 – March 2025) are outlined below:

Improving routine access

A total of 155 practices across Cheshire and Merseyside signed up for the New Patient Premium (nationally funded) to help treat patients who haven’t been seen by a dentist for more than two years. Between April and December 2024 (which is the most recent quarter we have performance data available for), this resulted in the delivery of more than 70,000 additional patient appointments across the region – including 28,367 children, and 45,883 adults.

Enhancing urgent care

A new network of dental practices was agreed in June 2023 to provide urgent care appointments for patients who are unable to access regular care – including via the Emergency Dental Helpline (0161 476 9651). Between April - December 2024, these practices saw 12,375 additional patients for urgent care treatment.

Across Cheshire and Merseyside, 76 dental practices have also signed up to deliver ‘Urgent Care Plus’ – a new scheme which offers additional funded sessions as an extension to the urgent care pathway, to help enable patients who have attended an urgent care appointment, to also receive a full examination and any further treatment required to help get them dentally fit again. A total of 9,679 patients were seen via this route between April and December 2024.

Supporting vulnerable patients

Another project which has been developed locally under the Dental Improvement Plan aims to help improve access to new patients within the Cheshire and Merseyside boundaries, with a focus on supporting vulnerable patients by offering an incentive for practices to engage with local voluntary sector organisations, such as homeless centres and family hubs. 

A total of 53 local dental practices are currently signed up to the scheme, and data from 42 of these practices shows that more than 21,000 new patients have been seen via this route to date.

Addressing workforce challenges

The plan has also been looking to address some of the longer-term workforce challenges in NHS dentistry, and we have just launched a recruitment incentive scheme to help tackle local dental workforce issues in more deprived areas, including areas of Liverpool and Knowsley. 

Improving oral health

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside has also committed £600,000 worth of funding towards the distribution of free dental packs containing toothbrushes and fluoride toothpaste to children across the region, supported by the delivery of supervised toothbrushing sessions which aim to help improve dental health and reduce the need for tooth extractions amongst children.

These dental packs are currently being distributed to children in early years settings (2-5 year olds) across Cheshire and Merseyside, with priority distribution being given to those living in the 20% most deprived communities.

Developing a new dental model

A new ‘proof of concept’ service has also been piloted at a vacant practice in the Belle Vale area of Liverpool, close to the Knowsley boundary and in an area of high need, which offers dental sessions delivered by patient outcomes, rather than measured in strict units of dental activity against a set target. Again, this project has focused on supporting better access for dental care for vulnerable patient groups. 

Over 4,000 patients have been referred to this service to date, including children, nursing and expectant mothers, patients referred from other hospital and social care settings, and asylum seekers. 

The project is proving very popular with staff as they are being supported to focus on achieving better outcomes for patients who have previously struggled to access dental services. This supports the retention of NHS dentists and, in some cases, the flexibility
offered has encouraged dentists providing private work to switch to provide sessions for the NHS. 

It’s a model that could be successfully replicated in other areas high need in Cheshire and Merseyside in the future, and plans are already in development for the launch of similar pilots in Halton and Knowsley in 2025/26.

Overall performance 

As a result of this proactive work to improve both access to, and the quality of care, dental practices in Cheshire and Merseyside are already demonstrating measurable improvements, with the region currently ranked as 23rd out of a total of 42 regional systems across the country, up from a previous ranking of 28th before the improvement plan was launched. 

It's also important to note that this ranking does not take into account the flexible local commissioning schemes we have introduced to improve patient outcomes and get patients dentally fit again, rather than just delivering strict units of dental care, and to support some of the region’s most vulnerable patients. 

Next steps

Planning is underway for the delivery of Year 2 of this programme of work to improve both access to and the quality of NHS dental care for patients in Cheshire and Merseyside, and will focus on continuing to build on these early successes and scaling up impact where possible. 

You can access the full NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Dental Improvement Plan here.