Government still intends to scrap NHS dental charges, minister insists

The Scottish Government still intends to scrap NHS dental charges, more than three years after it first promised to.

Public health minister Jenni Minto stressed the Government’s commitment to making dentistry free from charges – but said the “current financial climate” meant ministers had had to focus on work to “stabilise dentistry in Scotland”.

The SNP manifesto for the 2021 Holyrood elections promised to abolish NHS dentistry charges if the party was returned to power.

Speaking when the manifesto was launched in April 2021, then-SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon promised the policy would “ensure that cost is not a barrier to accessing healthcare”.

She said it would also “complete an SNP mission to restore all of Scotland’s NHS to its founding principle: universal healthcare, provided free at the point of need”.

But many patients still have to pay charges when receiving NHS dental treatments.

Clare Haughey, the convener of Holyrood’s Health Committee asked Ms Minto for an update when the minister appeared before the committee to speak about dentistry.

That is still our intention

Ms Haughey recalled the Scottish Government had “previously made a commitment to provide NHS dental care and treatment free at the point of need to everyone in Scotland”.

She asked where ministers had “got to with that”, with the public health minister replying: “That is still our intention. However, given the current financial climate, we have been focusing on ensuring we can stabilise dentistry within Scotland and we are focusing on ensuring we have the right workforce for that.

“But that is still our intention.”

Ms Minto added that the 2025-26 draft budget had allocated £500 million to dentistry, saying: “I do think that emphasises the importance we put on investing in dental health in Scotland.”