How do the NHS Wales April 1st changes work in Dentally?
๐จ 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.
From April 1st 2026, Dentally automatically updated to support the changes coming to NHS Wales - including managing claims for Care Packages, and capturing patient ethnicity under the new guidelines.
We'll keep this guide updated with any new changes we add to Dentally - for a list of everything added after April 1st, see our NHS April 1st release notes.
How will Care Packages work in Dentally?
๐ก Top tip: To understand how treatment plans and claims will work before and after April 1st, and what you can do to prepare, check our dedicated article.
When you begin charting a treatment plan in Dentally, you will now be able to see Care Package details and submit Care Package claims. Here's what this will mean for your routine charting and claiming processes.
๐ก Top tip: Check our FAQs for commonly asked questions about the new NHS charting workflows.
Charting with Care Packages
As you chart, you will immediately see a summary of the Care Package details. The appropriate Care Packages are automatically determined based on what you chart, and the details will be summarised underneath the appointments in that treatment plan (you may need to scroll to see it).
In the summary, you will see the Care Package name, set patient charge (if not exempt) and set practice fee (the amount you will receive from the NHS).
Click the dropdown arrow to the left of each Care Package to see all treatments that are part of that package.
There are some new charting items which you will need to use, in place of what you used previously, in order for Care Packages to be calculated accurately. These will automatically be added to your treatment list. See more details here.
Labs are now chargeable to patients in certain circumstances. You will need to record these when charting.
With the corresponding item expanded on the patient's chart, click the 'Labs' tab to record the price of lab items. Labs can be marked as either NHS or Private. Eligible exemptions will apply to NHS labs, but the patient will always be invoiced for Private ones regardless of their exemption status.
Labs for items marked as being performed under warranty will automatically have their charge type set to Private as these items are not covered by the NHS.
You will need to mark where work is under warranty (similar to how Free Repair worked previously). You must select whether the work is being done under a 12- or 24-month warranty, and which warranty Care Package to claim.
When charting, you'll see a new 'Under Warranty' dropdown under the expanded treatment item. If the work is being performed free of charge under warranty, use this dropdown to select which warranty was relevant, depending on when the original work was performed.
If applicable, you will then select the duration. This will automatically generate the correct Warranty Care Package.
Please only enter lab fees if the lab is being charged to the patient. Labs associated with warranty work are ineligible to be part of the claim.
You will now need to mark if a patient is urgent and referred - as Care Packages for New Urgent Referrals will be different.
When you chart any NHS item for a patient who has not had a (non-urgent) claim in the last 3 years at your practice, you'll see a banner asking whether this is a DAP Urgent Referral. Selecting 'Yes' will update the Care Packages to show the Urgent Care Package so that a claim can be submitted accordingly.
For any treatment plans which were started before April 1st 2026 and will be completed after this date, you will be paid according to the Care Package model, while your patients will only have to pay UDA band prices. You will see a banner reminding you of the banded fee which will not match the 'Patient charge' column above. See more about how fees will work for treatment plans spanning April 1st here.
๐จ Important: All existing uncompleted treatment plans opened before April 1st will be automatically updated to reflect Care Packages. You will now see Care Package details at the bottom of these plans, just as you will for new ones. You may need to provide additional details for these treatment plans which were not required previously (eg. lab fees and warranty details), so ensure you check carefully before completing these updated treatment plans.
The remuneration for treatment plans during this transition period will vary depending on when they were started and completed - check our detailed guidance for more info.
Claiming with Care Packages
You will now see Care Package details at the top of the NHS claim form. This includes completion dates and fees (including lab fees where applicable).
You will no longer see details of UDAs on the claim form.
You will also see changes to ethnicity and NHS number fields when claiming - see more information about this in the section below.
๐ก Top tip: See our detailed guide for how claims/remuneration will work for treatment plans started/completed before vs after April 1st 2026.
What other processes will update in Dentally from April 1st?
The requirements for gathering ethnicity and NHS number have changed. These can be provided in the patient's 'Details' tab at any time, or during the claim process. You will not be able to submit the claim without completing them.
The 'NHS UDAs/UOAs' report will now be called the 'NHS Activity' report to better reflect what it tracks.
The NHS expects you to ask patients for their ethnicity.
You can select 'Ethnicity Not Stated' or 'Patient Ethnicity Unknown' from the dropdown if not provided by the patient.
Two new ethnicity options have now been added. Giving your patients the option to choose a different ethnicity, even if they provided one before, will allow you to be compliant with the NHS guidance that you should not simply reuse patients' existing stored ethnicity (given new options are available which weren't before).
You will also be required to provide NHS number for all patients when submitting, or to indicate a reason for the number being absent.
If the patient doesn't provide an NHS number, click the 'NHS number not provided' tick box.
When this box is ticked, a field will appear asking you to provide the reason for the missing NHS number.
๐ 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.
NHS April 1st release notes
'Assessment and Advice' has been moved back to being an 'Other' treatment, to enable it to be used as part of an urgent appointment. Charting 'Assessment and Advice' and marking the plan as an Urgent Referral will create an Urgent Care Package. If charting as part of a regular appointment (not marked as urgent), a Miscellaneous Care Package will be created, which should not be claimed for.
You will not be able to submit a claim unless it has at least one Care Package in it.
Treatments with the NHS Note Only category will no longer cause the Exam Only exemption to be removed
If the Treatment Plan is marked as an Urgent Referral, we've fixed a bug where the referral source may not have been set correctly to match on the claim form.
If there are two ACORN codes present, we make sure to only send the code in the data once to the NHS
If charting a High Fluoride Toothpaste Prescription alongside only a New Patient Exam, we've prevented a Miscellaneous Care Package from also being generated.
In line with new guidance received from the NHS, the following treatments are now automatically included in Stabilisation Care Packages by default (where the Stabilisation Treatment is also charted):
Permanent Fillings (9306)
RCT Molar/Premolar (9370)
RCT Anterior (9371)
Non-Surgical Extractions (9373)