Oral healthcare professionals feel they have ‘no choice but to work’ when their mental health is suffering

Almost eight in ten oral healthcare professionals (76%) say they have gone to work or continued to work despite their mental health suffering.

In the Dental Protection survey of more than 1,600 oral healthcare professionals in the UK, two thirds (66%) said they feel guilty if they take time off due to mental wellbeing issues.

Almost half of the respondents (49%) said they feel they should keep working even when their mental health is suffering, and a similar number (47%) said there was nobody else to cover for them if they did not attend.

Over half (56%) cited financial reasons for continuing to work, while a third (33%) said it was due to the pressure to meet demand for NHS appointments, and the target driven culture.

Oral healthcare professionals who took part said working while their mental health is suffering had led to a loss of concentration (56%), a lack of empathy with patients (46%) and being more fearful of making mistakes (46%). Around a third (34%) suspected it may have contributed to a lower standard of care. 29% said there had been no effect on patients.

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Yvonne Shaw, Deputy Dental Director at Dental Protection said: ‘It does not surprise me that oral healthcare professionals put their patients’ interests above their own. It is however distressing that such a large proportion of colleagues say they are continuing to work despite not feeling mentally well enough to do so. The reasons cited highlight the pressures of delivering care and unrelenting demands of managing patient backlogs and meeting targets, alongside financial pressures and lack of cover.

‘The current pressures are unsustainable and oral healthcare professionals must feel able to take time off to recuperate or seek support. We see the impact of burn-out and the sad reality of colleagues having to take extended time off work, or even leaving dentistry altogether. Alongside this, working when our mental health is suffering can adversely impact the delivery of patient care which those taking part in our survey have shared.

‘At Dental Protection, we continue to campaign for the delivery of key reforms that we know could benefit oral healthcare professionals’ wellbeing. These include expansion and better use of the dental workforce, NHS contract reform and addressing access to care, alongside the introduction of measures that support dental teams to deliver optimised patient care and ensure appropriate remuneration.

A realistic new model for the provision of NHS dental care is urgently required to improve the working conditions for oral healthcare professionals, thereby protecting patients and safeguarding the future of NHS dentistry.’