A BRADFORD MP has called for dental funding to be ring fenced to ensure funds are not stripped from the district and spent elsewhere.

Imran Hussain, the MP for Bradford East, has accused NHS England of a "blatant act of theft" after figures from a Freedom of Information request revealed a total of £436,260 was taken from dental practices in Bradford in three years, yet only £129,995 was reinvested back into the city.

This money is known as 'clawback'.Under the current dental contract, money is refunded when a practice does not achieve an agreed level of activity.

It's a system which has come in for criticism. The British Dental Association, the union which represents dentists across the UK, is calling for a dental contract which puts prevention first and says the current dental contract, which remunerates dentists purely on activity, is "not fit for purpose".

Under the contract, NHS dentists should deliver at least 96 per cent of their agreed units of dental activity.

The FOI found that in 2014/15, 81.8 per cent of dental practices achieved this target, 71.4 per cent hit the target in 2015/16, with 78.6 per cent reaching the quota in 2016/17.

Speaking about his FOI, Mr Hussain said: “When 4 in 10 people don’t have an NHS dentist despite wanting one and dentists report overwhelming demand that they cannot meet because of a lack of funding, this decision by NHS England amounts to a blatant act of theft.

"This money was urgently needed in Bradford and I am infuriated that despite my many warnings over Bradford’s dental crisis, NHS England took money allocated to dentistry in Bradford and spent it elsewhere instead."

He added: “It has never been clearer that the current system is beyond broken, and that reform of dental contracts and a ring-fencing of dental funding is needed to stop NHS England stripping money from dentists in Bradford and spending it elsewhere instead.

"This clawed back funding must be reinvested in the many areas of high need in Bradford and I will continue to press the Government to look out for the interests of patients in Bradford, not the interests of decision makers in London when reviewing contract arrangements."

And while he welcomed the recent £332,500 funding boost for the city, he said it is not sustainable in the long-term and is "mostly the money taken from Bradford between 2014 and 2017 being returned, despite the desperate need for it in these years.”

Mick Armstrong, BDA chair and West Yorkshire dentist, said: “Money that should be providing access to patients in Bradford is being lost thanks to the perverse contract system NHS dentists have to work to. Practices are set tough targets, and when they are unable to hit them funding is returned to government.

"Most of this ‘clawback’ isn’t reinvested, so we end up with NHS dentists with capacity unable to treat NHS patients.

"Every last penny needs to be put back on frontline giving local people access to basic services.”

While an NHS England spokesperson said: “The General Dental Services contract requires that a practice does achieves an agreed level of activity, if this is not achieved, they must refund the money for that shortfall of activity – this is referred to as “clawback”. This money is part of the Yorkshire and Humber wide budget for dental services but is only realised in the following financial year. It is available on a non-recurrent basis.

“NHS England is committed to ensuring patients have access to good quality dental care and we are making funds available to increase the number of places for patients at dental practices in Yorkshire and the Humber.”

The Government has previously said that 75 dental practices are testing a preventative approach alongside a new remuneration system.