§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of dentists in England. [175220]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThere were 23,229 national health service dentists in September 2003, an increase of 3,249 dentists since September 1996. This includes dentists working in the general dental service, personal dental service, community dental service, and the hospital and community dental service.
§ Mr. John TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce free dental care for persons in receipt of incapacity benefit. [174994]
§ Ms Rosie Winterton[holding answer 24 May 2004]: We have no plans to do so. It is departmental policy to offer help with health costs based on a person's income, for example, to those receiving income support. As incapacity benefit is not income-based, it will not entitle a person to free dental care automatically, but recipients may be entitled to help by making a claim under the national health service low income scheme.
§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists ceased providing treatment for patients on the NHS in each year since 1997, broken down by month; and if he will make a statement. [173558]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonInformation on the number of dentists leaving the general dental service (GDS) or personal dental service (PDS) is shown in the tables for England and Wales in each year since 1997, broken down by month. Leavers count dentists in their first month of absence. The number of entrants is also provided.
The number of dentists in the national health service is increasing; in all years since 1997, there have been more dentists entering the NHS than leaving.
Dentists can leave the NHS for a variety of reasons. These include retirements, short-term absence, leaving for other employment as well as dentists leaving the NHS dental services to practise wholly privately.
1701W
2001 2002 2003 2004 Leavers Entrants Leavers Entrants Leavers Entrants Leavers Entrants January 132 160 134 140 141 129 117 125 February 116 153 128 100 109 101 89 102 March 95 112 104 107 106 119 110 96 April 131 134 126 127 117 79 — — May 92 81 93 87 114 89 — — June 90 87 138 82 112 150 — — July 102 142 114 156 225 631 — — August 260 722 292 618 209 200 — — September 216 175 215 187 125 106 — — October 140 135 133 129 127 107 — — November 119 126 114 107 94 82 — — December 104 63 83 61 151 156 — — Total 1,597 2,090 1,674 1,901 1,630 1,949 316 323 Notes: 1. The figures will include a large number of dentists who have had very short breaks in contracts as leavers and entrants, perhaps many times over the period. 2. These figures do not cover other NHS dental services, for example, community dental services and hospital dental services, for which information is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to recruit dentists from abroad; and if he will make a statement. [174480]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonWe are exploring several options for recruitment of dentists from abroad, including building on our established links with European Union countries and we also expect applications from dentists in the new EU accession states. We are developing a comprehensive dental workforce action plan and will be in a position to provide further information in due course.