'More of us will go over new contracts' A WELSH dentists' leader warned more could quit the NHS in opposition to a new contract. British Dental Association Welsh director Stuart Geddes said a proposed 200-page deal from the Department of Health "by and large" ignored concerns from the profession. "It is going to be opposed," he said. "It would be an imposed contract from April. "We haven't been given an opportunity to negotiate the terms and conditions, simply told we are having a new contract. "All these contracts have got to be agreed with individual practices because if they don't, by March 30, they won't be providing NHS services. That's the worst case scenario." An Assembly spokesman said under the new contract a dentist would be expected to provide a certain number of courses of treatment over a year, weighted by their complexity. "But it will be 10% fewer (5% in England) than the number provided in the test period, ie 10% less work in 2006-7 than in the previous year. "Dentists will not be left out of pocket under the new charging system. "The dentist will also have a guaranteed income." In May, the Assembly government announced £5m for the new personal dental scheme, which gives dentists more freedom in the way they treat patients. So far, 62 practices have signed up for the scheme, which secured NHS treatment for 247,000 existing and 60,000 additional patients. "There are another 25 practices going through the approval process and more than 50 other expressions of interest in the scheme," said the spokesman.. "This will move dentists away from the item of service treadmill, free up more time to spend with patients and allow them to better manage both their clinical and practice business workloads." Just 38.8% of people are registered with an NHS dentist in North Wales, compared with 48% in Mid and West Wales and 52.4% in South East Wales. | 
