London NHS dentistry nudges UDAs up as incentives reset
London’s NHS dental activity edged higher through 2024–2025 as commissioners leaned on time-limited levers to expand access and stabilise contracts, before switching this spring to an urgent-care incentive that prioritises same-day need across integrated care systems.
The uplift rides on national totals: 73 million Units of Dental Activity were delivered in 2024/25—slightly above 2023/24—while practices in the capital benefited from the £28 minimum UDA value and a new-patient premium that credited extra UDAs until its closure on 31 March 2025.
From April 2025, focus moved to unscheduled care, with commissioners funding additional urgent appointments and maintaining routine throughput inside core contracts; providers accrue the usual 1.2 UDAs for urgent courses alongside the incentive, shaping capacity toward first-contact treatment without displacing ongoing care.
Delivery remains uneven between London systems, but contract stabilisation, ringfenced budgets and targeted urgent slots have started to reduce booking friction for practices that had previously capped NHS lists, with the largest gains where commissioners matched incentives to verified local unmet need.
Numbers in brief: 73,000,000 UDAs in England for 2024/25 (under 1% up year on year), minimum UDA value lifted to £28, the new-patient premium ran March 2024 to March 2025, and urgent courses continue to count as 1.2 UDAs while the separate 2025/26 urgent-care incentive funds extra appointments.
Sources, window, method: NHSBSA Dental Statistics 2024/25 for UDA totals, DHSC/NHSE recovery plan documents for the £28 minimum and new-patient premium (to 31 March 2025), and NHSE 2025/26 urgent-care incentive guidance; analysis compares London commissioning practice with national rules over March 2024–October 2025 to assess access and productivity.
