🚨 Important: The information in this article is in accordance with NHS guidance - the rest of our Help Centre will be updated in due course. For more details of the changes and the most up-to-date information, please refer to the NHS directly. Share your feedback on the changes here.
What happens for treatments which start before/after April 1st?
💡 Top tip: See our full breakdown for everything that's changing in Dentally to support the NHS April 1st changes.
From April 1st, NHS Wales moved from the UDA system to the Care Package system. Please refer directly to the NHS for more guidance on what this means and how it works.
In Dentally, we have supported this change, allowing you to continue processing UDA claims for treatments closed before April 1st 2026, and then switching to Care Packages with immediate effect from April 1st onwards. How you will be paid depends on when the treatment plan is started and completed.
For treatment plans which start and end before April 1st 2026
For treatment plans completed before April 1st, you can submit the corresponding claims up until 31st May 2026, in the same way as you did before.
For all treatment plans completed before April 1st, your patients will be charged according to the UDA model, and you will be paid according to the UDA model.
Rejected claims can be resubmitted as normal up until 31st May 2026.
Treatment plans completed from April 1st onwards cannot be submitted in this way.
For treatment plans which start before April 1st 2026 and end after
Treatment plans started before April 1st, and completed on or after this date, must be submitted using the Care Package model, even if some of the work was completed before this date.
For these treatment plans which span April 1st, you will be paid according to the Care Package model, while your patients will only have to pay UDA band prices (if the treatment acceptance date falls before April 1st).
You do not have to rush to complete treatment plans prior to April 1st (which is what previous guidance stated). As far as we have been told by NHS Wales, there are no time restrictions for how quickly plans need to be completed, providing the course of treatment is still ongoing.
On April 1st, all open treatment plans will immediately transfer to Care Packages in Dentally. This may require you to input additional details before submitting, which you wouldn't have had to provide previously, eg. lab fees and warranty details. Ensure you have checked these details carefully before submitting, for all plans which started before April 1st and completed after it.
🚨 Important: This guidance may be different to guidance you heard previously, due to the NHS changing their approach. Please ensure you have read the above carefully.
Please note that the latest Case Studies document issued by the Welsh Government states that New Patient Assessment Care Packages must be claimed by themselves and ahead of other treatment. This information contradicts the latest technical specification documents we have been provided with. It is our understanding that until the Compass system is replaced, this Care Package may be submitted alongside other Care Packages. Please contact the NHS directly for any further guidance.
For treatment plans which start and end after April 1st 2026
From April 1st 2026 onwards, claims are submitted under the Care Packages model. UDAs no longer apply to these plans, and treatment plans show Care Packages automatically.
As you chart, Dentally shows Care Package details based on the items charted and the patient's details.
If your NHS treatments are configured correctly, they align with Care Packages automatically.
You can submit Care Package claims for treatments started and completed from that date onwards.
See How Care Packages work and our FAQs for day-to-day charting and claiming.
🚨 Important: Under the current Compass rules for Wales general dental Care Package claims, you submit one claim per treatment plan / course of treatment. All treatments on the plan must be completed (or prepared for incomplete / prep-only claiming where allowed) and submitted in a single claim at the end, under a single practitioner. You can deselect any Care Packages you do not wish to claim for within that treatment plan, but once submitted you cannot submit a second claim later for the remaining packages on the same open plan.
Previous NHS guidance had suggested multiple claims for the same treatment plan. That was withdrawn for Compass. Multi-claim for a single Wales course of treatment is expected to return when the Dental Services Portal (DSP) replaces Compass. Until then, Dentally follows the single-claim Compass rule.
Health Boards within Wales have the option to set different sub-targets on the Annual Contract Value (ACV) of the new contracts, so it's important to make sure that you are aware of these targets and keep track of them. We hope to be able to support target tracking within Dentally in the future, but in the meantime you will need to track these yourselves.
📝 Please note: Due to the amount of time provided by NHS Wales to implement these changes, we have prioritised updates which enable stability and patient safety. We will continue to develop these areas over the coming months - you can share your feedback to help us identify what to prioritise next.