§ Lord Colwynasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 17 March (WA 53), what mechanisms are in place to ensure that primary care trusts provide primary dental services to homeless people; and what action will be taken if it is found that these services have been reduced due to lack of use. [HL2518]
§ Lord WarnerNational Health Service primary dental services may be accessed through General Dental Services, Dental Access Centres or through the Community Dental Service. There is no reason why homeless people should not be eligible to receive NHS primary dental care in any of these ways.
79WAUnder the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003, primary care trusts will have new responsibilities to provide or commission primary dental services in their area to meet all reasonable requirements. With this new duty will go the £1.3 billion (2003–04) currently held centrally. In this way PCTs, will be better able to match resources to the local oral health need. The PCTs will be performance managed by their strategic health authority in relation to their dental function, as they are in relation to other statutory functions.
§ Lord Colwynasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 9 March (WA 160), which countries they intend to contact in order actively to recruit dentists; and whether they will provide details of any agreements. [HL2520]
§ Lord WarnerWe have been making contact with accession states through our embassies. The Minister of State for Health, Mr John Hutton, recently visited Poland, the largest of the accession states, and secured an agreement for a programme of managed recruitment. We are developing plans to take this forward.
§ Lord Colwynasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 9 March (WA 160) what discussions they have had with the British Dental Association and the General Dental Council regarding the movement of dental personnel to the United Kingdom from European Union accession countries; and what is the number of dental personnel from European Union accession countries aiming to come to work in the United Kingdom after 1 May 2004. [HL2521]
§ Lord WarnerThere are dentists from the accession states who would be interested in coming to work in England. We are exploring these possibilities, but have not at this stage tried to estimate numbers. Poland which is the largest of the accession states has agreed to a programme of managed recruitment. We have had discussion with the General Dental Council to ensure that the processes for dentists from the new accession states wishing to join the GDC register are clear and straightforward.
§ Lord Colwynasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 17 March (WA 52), whether dentists are still being encouraged to take up Personal Dentist Service (PDS) contracts in the context of the field sites as specified in the new dental contract of 2005. [HL2522]
§ Lord WarnerContracts for "Options for Change" remuneration field sites are based on over five years of successful piloting of Personal Dental Service contracts but will reflect the particular circumstances of these practices and the models they are designed to test out.
80WAThe base contract designed for local contracting of dentistry is modelled on the PDS contract and interest in moving to the PDS in advance of the new contract has increased in recent months. We have received and are processing applications to move over 350 dental practices to PDS.
For those dentists who want to change from the General Dental Service item of service system, we will continue to support them to move into PDS arrangements. This option is open to all dentists and currently we have three-month turn-around time from receipt of application to approval.