Profits at Bupa’s dental unit more than doubled last year – despite the company closing practices and bemoaning the shortage of NHS dentists, its latest accounts show.
Underlying earnings at Oasis Healthcare – the UK’s second-largest dental chain – soared from £8 million to £18.9 million in 2024, partly driven by a growth in private treatments.
Sales of private procedures rose 6 per cent to £413 million but NHS treatments fell from £136 million to £126 million.
Its highest-paid director received a 20 per cent pay rise from £637,000 to £766,000.
Big business: Sales of private procedures rose 6 per cent to £413 million but NHS treatments fell from £136 million to £126 million
The details come after The Mail on Sunday revealed fears about big businesses and private equity firms tightening their grip on UK dentistry via debt-fuelled expansion.
Dennis Reed, of pensioners’ campaign group Silver Voices, said: ‘These burgeoning profits from Bupa reveal the predatory nature of these large dentist firms. It is in their interests to squeeze out NHS patients from their practices, as they charge more than double for the same procedures to be carried out by the same dentists privately.’
One-off items saw Oasis post a £21 million loss, against a £48 million deficit in 2023, due to its ‘turnaround strategy’, which includes closing clinics. Bupa was contacted for comment.
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