BDA warns against DoH climb-down on dental commissioning board

The British Dental Association (BDA) has called on the government to stick to its plans to create a national board responsible for dental commissioning in the UK.

John Milne, chair of the BDA's general dental practice committee, said the creation of the board would represent a chance to "introduce some consistency" for dental commissioning, urging the government to "think very carefully" about the idea.

The call came after the House of Commons' health select committee suggested that the Department of Health (DoH) should scrap the plan, with commissioning to be handled by new NHS local authorities instead.

Mr Milne warned against this idea, stating that the current system of primary care trusts commissioning dentists has led to inconsistent standards across the UK.

He added that although current proposals lack detail over how national and local health organisations would work together, the BDA believes the solution is "to fill in that detail, not abandon this plan completely".

This comes after the organisation welcomed the government's decision last month to dramatically reduce the fees paid by dental practices for registration with the Care Quality Commission.