A consensus exercise to inform the future of National Health Service General Dental Services using a modified-Delphi technique.

Background Problems relating to the commissioning and delivery of National Health Service (NHS) General Dental Services (GDS) have been well-documented.Objectives This study aimed to gain consensus on issues deemed of importance to the future delivery of dental care in NHS GDS.Methodology Consensus was gained using a modified-Delphi technique. This method asks respondents the degree to which they agree or disagree with the statements on a nine-point Likert scale. Consensus is achieved when more than 70% of respondents either agreed or conversely disagreed with the statement.Results General dental practitioners (n = 70) agreed on 24 of 33 statements. There was consensus on statements relating to a more preventively orientated service and it was possible to identify agreement on what might constitute a core dental service such as the concept of a 'shortened dental arch' and the exclusion of molar endodontics from NHS GDS. However, the idea that NHS dental care should be provided only to children and a defined subset of the population, with for example, those earning over a predefined threshold, ineligible for NHS dental care failed to achieve consensus.There were no significant differences between dentists' views relating either to age or NHS contractor status (performer/provider) when it came to agreement/disagreement on the issues scrutinised.Conclusions This work provides pointers as to the current views of dentists in Wales and could inform future development of NHS GDS.