Struggling to get a dental appointment? Dentists to be offered cash incentives to treat NHS patients
The government is planning to offer dentists cash incentives to take on new NHS patients and work in areas that are under-served.
Details of the NHS “dental recovery plan”, which also include sending teams into schools to treat children’s teeth, were due to be announced on Wednesday.
Politics Live: Liz Truss accused of ‘offensive nonsense’
However, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) appears to have inadvertently sent an email detailing the new measures to some opposition MPs. This was then passed on to Sky News.
The email, marked with Wednesday’s date, says dentists will be offered a “bonus” to take on more NHS patients, creating more than 1.5 million new treatments.
There will also be a “golden hello” cash incentive for dentists to work in areas that are under-served, allowing around one million new patients to access treatment.
This will kick in from later this year and see up to 240 dentists offered £20,000 to stay and deliver NHS care for at least three years in areas where recruitment and retention of dentists is difficult, the email says.
The plan, amounting to a £200m investment in NHS dentistry, also includes a “Smile for Life” initiative which aims to prevent tooth decay in nursery and reception-aged children by encouraging healthy tooth-brushing habits.
In addition, mobile dental teams will go into schools in under-served areas to provide advice and deliver fluoride varnish treatments to more than 165,000 kids.
A new dental van service will also be available for targeted rural and coastal communities in under-served areas, with the first vans up and running later this year.
It is unclear if the contents of the email will exactly match Wednesday’s announcement. Sky News has contacted the DHSC for comment.
The government has been under pressure to publish its NHS dentistry plan amid reports that people in the UK have had to resort to pulling out their own teeth because of a crisis in care.
On Monday, the British Dental Association (BDA) warned that police had to break up queues outside a dental practice in Bristol as they hit out at “sticking plaster policies”.
The BDA wants the government to reform “discredited dental contracts” which they say are fuelling an exodus and mean NHS treatments are being delivered at a financial loss.
They said claims that the measures being announced would generate “millions” of new appointments appeared to lack credibility.
“There is nothing in the plan to draw dentists back into NHS dentistry to enhance workforce capacity,” a spokesperson said – adding that most of the investment appeared to be drawn “from recycling existing budgets”.
Read More:
Britons are ‘pulling their own teeth out with pliers’ because they can’t access NHS dentists
NHS dentistry ‘will die’ leaving patients’ with ‘no options’
Labour claimed the government was “only promising to do something about it now there’s an election coming”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Millions could be left with ‘no dental options’ as thousands of dentists sever ties with NHS
Pointing to his party’s own plan for supervised toothbrushing for children and thousands of extra appointments, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “After 14 years of Conservative neglect, patients are desperately queuing around the block to see a dentist, literally pulling their own teeth out, and tooth decay is the number one reason for 6-year-olds being admitted to hospital.
“The Conservatives are only promising to do something about it now there’s an election coming.
“By adopting Labour’s proposals for recruitment and supervised toothbrushing, they are finally admitting that they are out of ideas of their own.”
Lib Dem health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “This plan comes too little too late for those left waiting in pain for dental care or the children admitted to hospital for tooth decay.
“With over 12 million waiting for help, this pledge to help just 1 million is a drop in the ocean and shows the government isn’t serious.”
Tory MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault at London’s Groucho Club.
The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two different women at the private members’ club, in Soho, in August 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Follow live politics updates: Your views on Starmer’s migration speech
Mr Spencer – who is the Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich – will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday 16 June.
A Conservative Party spokesman said Mr Spencer, 37, has been suspended by the Tories and had the whip withdrawn.
The Groucho Club in Soho, London. Pic: PA
The Metropolitan Police said he was charged after attending a voluntary interview at a London police station on 13 March this year.
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: “Following a review of the evidence provided by the Metropolitan Police Service, we have authorised two counts of sexual assault against Patrick Spencer MP.
“The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two separate women at the Groucho Club in central London in August 2023.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial.
“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Mr Spencer was first elected to Parliament last year with a majority of 4,290.
It is understood he was asked not to attend the parliamentary estate by the Tory chief whip while police enquiries were ongoing.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party believes in integrity and high standards. We have taken immediate action.
“Patrick Spencer MP has been suspended from the Conservative Party, and the whip withdrawn, with immediate effect.
“The Conservative Party cannot comment further on an ongoing legal case.”
Read more from Sky News:
Man who spent 38 years in jail for murder has conviction quashed
The online drug trade behind QR code stickers on UK streets
The Groucho Club, in Dean Street, opened in 1985 and became a renowned meeting place for A-list celebrities and others, including actors, comedians and media executives.
The club was named after the comedian and actor Groucho Marx, who reportedly once said he would refuse to join any club that would have him as a member.
It was originally set up as a more relaxed alternative to traditional gentlemen’s clubs, according to the venue’s website, which adds that members should be in the creative industry “and share the club’s maverick spirit”.
Before becoming an MP, Mr Spencer worked in finance for private equity firm IPGL, a company chaired by his father, former Conservative Party treasurer Lord Michael Spencer.
He later took a job at the Centre for Social Justice think thank before becoming a senior adviser at the Department for Education.
He made his maiden speech in the Commons in July last year during a debate on the MPs’ code of conduct relating to second jobs, during which he said the “most important thing to the people across my constituency” was “restoring a sense of moral probity and public spiritedness to our political system”.
Sky News has contacted Mr Spencer for comment.
GD Culture Group (GDC), a Nasdaq-listed holding company focused on livestreaming, e-commerce and artificial intelligence-powered digital human technology, plans to raise up to $300 million for a cryptocurrency treasury reserve.
In a May 12 statement, GDC and its subsidiary, AI Catalysis, announced entering into a common stock purchase agreement with a British Virgin Islands limited liability company to sell up to $300 million of its common stock.
The proceeds from the stock sale will be used to fund the firm’s crypto treasury, which will include purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) and the Official Trump (TRUMP) token.
“Under this initiative, and subject to certain limitations, GDC intends to allocate a significant portion of the proceeds from any share sales under the facility to the acquisition, long-term holding, and integration of crypto assets into its core treasury operations,” the company said in the announcement.
GDC described the strategy as a move to align with the broader “decentralization transformation.”
Founded in 2016, GDC is a micro-cap company with a current $34 million market capitalization, according to Nasdaq data.
Related: Multi-wallet usage up 16%, but AI may address crypto fragmentation gap
GDC’s chairman and CEO, Xiaojian Wang, said the initiative builds on the company’s strengths in digital technologies and positions it for a blockchain-powered industrial shift.
“GDC’s adoption of crypto assets as treasury reserve holdings is a deliberate strategy that reflects both current industry trends and our unique strengths in digital technologies and the livestreaming e-commerce ecosystem,” Wang said.
The stock offering was announced over a month after the firm received a noncompliance warning from Nasdaq related to its stockholders’ equity. The notice indicated that the firm reported stockholders’ equity of only $2,643, well below the minimum requirement of $2.5 million.
The firm was given until May 4 to submit a plan to comply with the listing requirements. If accepted by Nasdaq, the compliance plan will allow up to 180 days from the notification period to comply with the requirements.
The Nevada-based company joins a small but growing group of public firms that are allocating part of their balance sheets to crypto assets.
Related: Crypto speculation dominates $600B cross-border payments: BIS report
Trump token dinner planned for top holders
GDC’s announcement coincides with an upcoming high-profile event tied to the Trump token project. The 25 largest holders of TRUMP tokens are set to attend a private dinner at the White House on May 22.
However, the TRUMP memecoin project said in a May 12 X post that it has stopped considering additional purchases for the dinner and that the attendees had been notified to apply for background checks.
According to data provided on the project’s leaderboard, the top 220 wallets held more than 13.7 million tokens as of May 12, worth about $174 million at the time of publication.
Some US lawmakers have criticized the dinner. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis reportedly said that the idea of the US president offering exclusive access for people willing to pay “gives [her] pause.”
Crypto regulation experts also fear that the Trump family’s crypto endeavors may trigger more regulatory scrutiny by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as politically affiliated memecoins introduce a new challenge for crypto legislation.
Magazine: Uni students crypto ‘grooming’ scandal, 67K scammed by fake women: Asia Express
A 21-year-old man has been arrested over a series of arson attacks, police have said, after a fire at a house owned by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The suspect was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, according to the Metropolitan Police.
He remains in custody.
Emergency services were called to fires at the doors of two homes in north London within 24 hours of each other – one just after 1.35am on Monday in Kentish Town and the other on Sunday in Islington. Both properties are linked to Sir Keir.
Police are investigating links to several fires, which they are treating as suspicious. Pic: LNP
Detectives were also checking a vehicle fire last Thursday on the same street as the Kentish Town property to see whether it is connected.
Part of the area was cordoned off as police and London Fire Brigade (LFB) investigators examined the scene.
Neighbours described hearing a loud bang and said police officers were looking for a projectile.
Emergency services were deployed to the scene in Kentish Town, north London, on Monday. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
The prime minister is understood to still own the home, which was damaged by fire on Monday, but nobody was hurt. Pictures showed scorching at the entrance to the property.
Sir Keir used to live there before he and his family moved into 10 Downing Street after Labour won last year’s general election. It is believed the property is being rented out.
In the early hours of Sunday, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house converted into flats in nearby Islington, which is also linked to the prime minister.
Counter-terror police are leading the investigation. Pic: LNP
In a statement, police said: “As a precaution and due to the property having previous connections with a high-profile public figure, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are leading the investigation into this fire.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish what caused it. All three fires are being treated as suspicious at this time, and enquiries remain ongoing.”
Read more from Sky News:
QR codes linked to online drugs
Could UK get US-style ‘supermax’ jails?
Report: IS fighters in UK must face justice
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I can only say that the prime minister thanks the emergency services for their work and it is subject to a live investigation. So I can’t comment any further.”
Kemi Badenoch has condemned the suspected arson attacks.
Writing on X, the Conservative leader said: “This is a shocking incident. My thoughts are with the prime minister and his family. No one should face these sorts of threats, let alone people in public service.
“It’s an attack on our democracy and must never be tolerated.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News on Tuesday: “It’s important that the prime minister and anyone in public life has their family, their homes, protected.
“It is absolutely wrong, disgraceful, for any individual to take the kind of action that we saw against the prime minister’s home.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway