Call for investigation into funding of provider chaired by NHSE officer

Health Education England last year paid £1.5m to a project at Suffolk University, which it said included the establishment of a social enterprise to provide dental care, as well as a new education and training centre.

The university announced in November it was setting up the provider and that Sara Hurley, NHSE’s chief dental officer for England since 2015, would be its chair (a role which NHSE said she declared). She also joined the university’s board, and has not stepped down from the CDO role.

HEE said that all due process and business practice was followed, while NHSE said Dr Hurley had “no role in the commissioning of dental services”, and that her two Suffolk board posts were unpaid.

The British Dental Association and a former NHSE director told HSJ they were concerned about potential conflicts, and said questions needed to be answered about whether proper competition was held before the £1.5m was paid, and why HEE, whose responsibilities are education and training, is apparently funding a new healthcare provider.

Job adverts have described the CIC as “an exciting and innovative collaboration between the University of Suffolk and the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board [which] aims to provide high-quality NHS dental services… through brand new, state of the art clinical facilities”. It planned to “open its doors to patients in spring 2023”.

Both NHSE – which currently commissions primary dental care – and the ICB, which is due to take on this responsibility in April, told HSJ they did not have a contract with the CIC to provide dental services.

However, HEE said in response to a freedom of information request that it had “provided a one-off payment of £1.5m to [the ICB] as… a contribution to the project’s starting point”, including training and education facilities and “the development of a dental social enterprise offering NHS dental treatment”.

HEE, which shares several board directors with NHSE and is due to become part of NHSE at the end of the month, was “involved in the development of [the] dental centre, as one of many stakeholders including [the ICB], local MPs, NHS England and regional dentists”, it said.

It is not known how much of the £1.5m has been passed by the ICB to the university and/or the CIC.

British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch said the potential conflicts in the award of the funding demanded “a full and thorough investigation”.

Dr Crouch continued: “At a bare minimum, this profession needs to know that normal processes were followed, and no exceptions made… When millions are struggling to access care, dentists and patients need assurances that every penny has been spent appropriately.”

Sam Shah, who trained as a dentist and is a former NHSE director of digital development, said: “What’s very strange here is that HEE has handed over millions for a CIC where it has no contract and where there isn’t an NHS service.

“NHS England is still the commissioner and responsible for contracting policy. Why would the chief dental officer go out of her way to become a director for University of Suffolk Dental CIC? Where have the checks and balances gone?”

Dr Shah, who has sought information about the project using the Freedom of Information Act, added: “Where was the competitive procurement process for any other provider to also provide for?”

A spokesperson for HEE said: “All usual due process and business practice was followed to help deliver the Centre for Dental Development in Suffolk. HEE, NHSE and the SNEE ICB fully support this venture to help ensure the growth of the dental workforce.”

The ICB said the £1.5m HEE funding was only for setting up a centre for dental development, not the CIC dental provider, contrary to information provided by HEE. It said it was “working on plans to deliver significant change and improvement in the medium to long term” and enable “timely access to NHS dental services” in “one of the most challenged areas”.

A spokesperson continued: “From the outset the ICB has been openly supportive of this development, although we have not commissioned any of the work. The CIC will be able to bid for future locally commissioned dental services in line with usual NHS protocol.

“The ICB has separately received £1.5m in HEE funding to be used for the creation of a centre for dental development at the University of Suffolk.”

NHS England, asked about potential conflicts, said Dr Hurley had declared her new roles to the organisation. This is not yet shown on its published register of interests for decision making staff, which is meant to be updated quarterly, but currently only runs to August 2021.

An NHS England spokesperson said: “Sara Hurley’s unpaid role with the University of Suffolk has been fully declared, while she has no role in the commissioning of dental services.

“NHS England has not awarded a dental contract to the University of Suffolk.”

The University of Suffolk did not respond to requests for comment.

The university has previously said the project had particular backing from Suffolk MP Jo Churchill, who was a health minister from July 2019 to September 2021, a minister in another department from September 2021 to July 2022, and has been a government whip since September last year.