Petition · past parliament

Let General and Specialist Dental Nurses be recognised by the NHS.

Rejected 17 signatures

What the petition asks

Recognise DN's who work outside of hospital settings, areas such as General Dental Practices.
DN annual start at £19k& don't include a NHS pension, banded pay, holiday scheme or annual inflation rises & not entitled to sick pay. We still have to pay ARF, Indemnity, CPD yearly & get no NHS benefit.
We work hard towards gaining our qualifications and some even go to University. Then we come out into the working world and are shown that we can be treated better in Tesco, Aldi or any other standard non skilled job and are continuing to be paid more than us and that includes many more benefits.
There is no incentive to want to work within general practice/specialist practice.


We want general Dental Nurses to be recognised the same as any other NHS Nurse/Dental Nurse/Dentist/DCP and be given the same benefits.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

We can only accept petitions about things the Government or Parliament are directly responsible for.

Decisions about terms and conditions for dental nurses are a matter for their employers, not the UK Government or Parliament.

The Government is responsible for entitlement to the NHS pension, and we have published the following petition, which you might like to sign:

NHS Dental Nurses to be entitled to an NHS pension: NHS Dental Nurses to be entitled to an NHS pension.

Timeline

20 Jul 2022 Petition opened for signatures
22 Jul 2022 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 17
Status Rejected
Rejected 22 Jul 2022

Follow this petition

Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.

Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.