§ 31. Mr. John Hallasked the Minister of Health what is the total staff engaged in costing the work of dentists in the National Health Service; what is the annual cost of the dental costing department; and what savings in the cost of dental work have been achieved in the last complete twelve months as a result of the work of this department.
§ Miss PittThe total staff of the Dental Estimates Board is about 24 1,000, and the annual cost about £775,000. It is not possible to say how much mare the General Dental Service would cost if dentists' claims for payment were not verified.
§ Mr. HallIs my hon. Friend aware that every dentist has to take a cast of the mouth where the work involved is likely to cost more than 10s. and send it to her Department for examination, and that about 3 per cent. are examined? Is not the saving in cost achieved by this examination far outweighed by the cost of storing and the secretarial work involved?
§ Miss PittThe work involved is only a relatively small proportion of the work of the Dental Estimates Board. The much greater part of it is the routine checking of all the accounts and payments.