HL Deb 15 May 1986 vol 474 cc1334-6

7.7 p.m.

Baroness Hooper rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 14th April be approved. [19th Report from the Joint Committee.]

The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Dental Auxiliaries Regulations 1968 provide primarily for the setting up of rolls of dental hygienists and dental therapists and specify the kinds of work these two classes of dental auxiliary might undertake. The draft regulations now before your Lordships consolidate the amendments that have been made over the years to the 1968 regulations, and make a number of minor changes which are necessary in consequence of the Dentists Act 1984 and which involve simple up-dating of references and terminology. The General Dental Council have also taken the opportunity to introduce some other, relatively minor, amendments, particularly to Regulations 23 and 27, which set out the dental work which dental hygienists and dental therapists are permitted to undertake. I will refer briefly to these.

The first relates to the question of advice on matters of oral hygiene. Dental health education is important and of benefit to the community at large; it is undertaken not only by dentists, but by other health professionals and others with no dental background. In these circumstances, continuing to define in these regulations the giving of advice on matters relating to oral hygiene as "dental work permitted of a dental hygienist or a dental therapist" would perpetuate an anomaly and would discriminate against qualified dental auxiliaries because they would only be able to give oral hygiene advice under the direction of a registered dentist. The new regulations before your Lordships avoid this difficulty by omitting any reference to the giving of advice on oral hygiene from the list of dental work that the dental auxiliaries can do under the direction of a dentist.

A further change clarifies the circumstances under which analgesia and anaesthesia is administered to patients being treated by a dental therapist. I am incidentally advised that the General Dental Council are of the view that "local infiltration analgesia" is now the correct term in preference to "local infiltration anaesthesia".

The change to which I referred is designed to rectify the anomaly arising under the existing regulations whereby a dental therapist can remove deciduous teeth under local infiltration analgesia but cannot use the same technique when undertaking simple fillings. At the same time the opportunity has been taken to allow a dental therapist to undertake simple fillings, the scaling of teeth and the application of approved prophylactic materials under local infiltration analgesia administered either by himself or in most cases, herself, or under a local or regional block analgesia administered by a registered dentist.

The regulations have been prepared in draft by the General Dental Council and approved by the Privy Council in accordance with the requirements of Section 45(9) of the Dentists Act 1984. Before the regulations are made, this section of the 1984 Act requires the approval of your Lordships' House to the draft. These regulations consolidate and bring up to date a number of separate instruments dating back to 1968. They also clear up a couple of anomalies in the present regulations. I therefore commend them to your Lordships.

Moved, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 14th April be approved. [19th Report from the Joint Committee.]—(Baroness Hooper.)

Lord Ennals

My Lords, may I very briefly welcome the statement made by the noble Baroness in clarifying the statutory instrument. I have no worries about the statutory instrument. In fact, I congratulate not only the noble Baroness but also the draftsman, because I actually find the wording possible to understand.

This is a consultation measure, as was said. We are doing little more than updating and clarifying at the same time, since it has the support of the General Dental Council and the Privy Council. I make no complaint of the fact that, as a Privy Counsellor, no-one consulted me about this. This is one of the facts of life that one just has to accept.

I warmly welcome the emphasis given not only in the document but by the noble Baroness to dental advice. That is most important. I also welcome the fact that dentists are increasingly, at regular intervals, normally every six months, calling people in to see that their teeth are in a good state.

I should like, if I may, to put two questions about the categories of dental hygienists and dental therapists. These are, to me, new terms, and are well clarified here. Can the noble Baroness tell me something about the training of these two categories and also give some idea of the numbers of dental hygienists and dental therapists who are serving under the direction of fully qualified dentists?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord. The training of both dental therapists and hygienists is governed by Part III of the new regulations. Questions of training are for the General Dental Council, which approves and inspects courses and examinations. Normally, the courses are held at approved medical schools.

So far as the number in each category is concerned, at 1st January 1986 there were 479 dental therapists on the roll. Incidentally, dental therapists may work only in a National Health Service hospital or in a community dental service under the direction of a registered dentist. Of dental hygienists, there were 2,074 on the roll at 1st January 1986. Their function is to clean, scale and polish teeth and apply prophylactic materials. Most of them are in fact employed directly by registered dental practitioners. I hope that information clarifies the position for the noble Lord.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness.

On Question, Motion agreed to.