BDA highlights impact of missed appointments

The British Dental Association (BDA) has raised concerns that missed appointments are becoming an increasingly serious problem for UK dental surgeries.

A survey conducted by the organisation suggests that potentially more than 3.5 million appointments were missed by patients last year, causing dental practitioners to lose the equivalent of two weeks of work annually.

The study indicated that this problem is more prevalent among newer patients, while also underlining the fact that missed appointments prevent others from having access to dental care.

According to the BDA, this issue has become more pressing since the abolition of dentists' abilities to charge a fee when scheduled visits are missed as part of dentistry reforms in 2006.

John Milne, chair of the BDA's general dental practice committee, said: "This not only wastes dentists' time, but also taxpayers' money. With many people still failing to secure the dental appointments they want and the public purse under pressure, that's simply unacceptable."

This comes in the same week that the industry body sought assurances from the government that any reforms to the dental sector that are forthcoming under the new Health and Social Care Bill have been properly planned out.