TY - JOUR

T1 - Is skill mix profitable in the current NHS dental contract in England?

AU - Brocklehurst, P R

AU - Tickle, M

PY - 2011/4/8

Y1 - 2011/4/8

N2 - The use of skill mix in medicine is now widespread, yet it appears that its use in dentistry is not as prominent. Unlike doctors, dentists are required to mitigate the financial risk produced by their capital investment and ensure an adequate cash flow to cover their annual running costs. Examining the financial incentives for employing dental care professionals is therefore an important step to understand why dentistry appears to lag behind medicine in skill mix. It is also apposite, given the announcement of the coalition government to develop a new contract, which could introduce incentives for the use of dental care professionals in this way. The purpose of this short paper is to examine whether skill mix is profitable for general dental practices under the existing NHS contract in England.

AB - The use of skill mix in medicine is now widespread, yet it appears that its use in dentistry is not as prominent. Unlike doctors, dentists are required to mitigate the financial risk produced by their capital investment and ensure an adequate cash flow to cover their annual running costs. Examining the financial incentives for employing dental care professionals is therefore an important step to understand why dentistry appears to lag behind medicine in skill mix. It is also apposite, given the announcement of the coalition government to develop a new contract, which could introduce incentives for the use of dental care professionals in this way. The purpose of this short paper is to examine whether skill mix is profitable for general dental practices under the existing NHS contract in England.

KW - Contracts

KW - Cost-Benefit Analysis

KW - Delegation, Professional

KW - Dental Assistants

KW - Dental Auxiliaries

KW - Dental Hygienists

KW - Dentists

KW - England

KW - Financial Management

KW - General Practice, Dental

KW - Health Services Needs and Demand

KW - Humans

KW - Income

KW - Motivation

KW - Patient Care Planning

KW - Patient Care Team

KW - Practice Management, Dental

KW - Primary Prevention

KW - Risk Assessment

KW - State Dentistry

KW - Treatment Outcome

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1038/sj.bdj.2011.238

DO - 10.1038/sj.bdj.2011.238

M3 - Article

C2 - 21475274

VL - 210

SP - 303

EP - 308

JO - British Dental Journal

JF - British Dental Journal

SN - 1476-5373

IS - 7

ER -