According to the Chair of the British Dental Association’s (BDA) General Dental Practice Committee, the new contractual arrangements must work for dentists and patients alike.

John Milne said that the contractual reforms must deliver improved patient outcomes and fair remuneration, while preserving current benefits for practitioners, allowing the transfer of the value of a practice’s goodwill and ensuring financial stability during the transition period.

He added that, if the reforms are to avoid the pitfalls seen around the changes in 2006, which prompted many dentists to pursue a future away from the NHS and triggered “scenes of queues around the block to access dental care”, they must work for both parties.

Meanwhile, GP leaders are saying that the Chancellor missed the opportunity to address under-spending on the NHS when he delivered his Autumn Statement last week.

Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), Dr Maureen Baker, said that NHS funding had been completely overlooked, leading GPs to fear that patient care could be compromised by declining resources.

Dr Baker pointed out that GPs carry 90 per cent of the contacts in the NHS for just 8.39 per cent of its budget, a decrease of one fifth since 2005. She added that doctors are trying to manage greater demands on their time as an ageing and growing population seek care for increasingly complex, multiple and long-term conditions, which is not sustainable on a dwindling budget.

However, in reply, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said that health spending increased by 0.5 per cent in real terms in 2012/13 in England and that the NHS budget will continue to increase in real terms for 2015/16.