How Those Resignations Will Affect Dentistry
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- Published: Wednesday, 06 July 2022 07:45
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 1802
The shock wave following the resignation of two big beasts from the Government will have a huge impact, and dentistry will not be immune.
Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health & Social Care, and Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who both resigned yesterday evening with "unco-ordinated timing", run the two departments that most affect the profession. While Dentistry is mainly the domain of more junior ministers in the health department, such as Maria Caulfield, change at the top of the ministry will affect major decisions.
Meanwhile the funding of dentistry, in particular any changes to it, will require Treasury approval. In his resignation letter Rishi Sunak made it clear that the Prime Minister wanted to be more generous than he felt the country could afford. He wrote, “Our people believe that if something sounds too good to be true then it’s not true.” An embattled Prime Minister who has already sought to shore up his position with controversial spending projects, may look for eye catching good news stories.
It has recently been made very clear that any dental contract changes will have to be within current funding, there would be no extra money. Dentists will wonder if this might now change. The new Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, taking on the post at this time, must be fully committed to the Johnson project, and may be willing to increase spending more than his predecessor. His background includes a very successful business career, and ministerial responsibility for the Covid vaccine deployment, before becoming Education Secretary.
The new Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, was a Minister of State for Health for ten months in 2018. In February 2022 he was appointed Downing Street Chief of Staff after the previous incumbent resigned. This was intended to bring in more professional management and avoid further crises. Following the announcement of Mr Barclay’s latest promotion, political writer and observer Dan Hodges tweeted:
On hearing of his Chancellors resignation, Boris Johnson is reported to have remarked that now he could “cut taxes.” Before dental teams start to raise their hopes, GDPUK has heard from seasoned dental political sources that the proposed modest incremental dental contract changes, are now likely to be delayed by the changes at the top of these two key ministries.
Further disruption seems likely. Despite predictions immediately after the first two resignations that the Prime Minister would soon be toppled, he appears to be hanging on, at least in the short term. There is a possibility, given the domino effect as reshuffles move down the ranks, that those junior ministers more involved with dentistry may move jobs.
Sources inform GDPUK that dentistry and NHS contract reform are unlikely to get much attention anytime soon.
Image: EU2017EE Estonian Presidency, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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