§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 1 September 2004,Official Report, column 888W, ref.186199, on NHS Dentistry, (1) whether those people were advised of dentists that they could register with; and what percentage of callers were advised of dentists that they could register with within locally agreed standards; [187852]
how many NHS dentists were accepting new NHS patients at the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [187885]
what assessment he has made of the local distance standards for each primary care trust for access to NHS dentistry; [187886]
what the maximum distance is that patients in England are expected to travel to receive NHS dental care under locally agreed standards. [187887]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonIn March 2004, 91 per cent. of callers to NHS Direct were referred to a dentist within locally agreed distance standards who was accepting patients for national health service treatment. Information is not held centrally on how many of the patients registered with the dentist to which they were referred. They may have been treated under provisions within the general dental service regulations for occasional treatments.
1958WThe number of general dental service or personal dental service dental practices shown on the NHS.UK website as accepting new NHS patients on 8 September is shown in the table.
Number Registering children aged 0 to 18 years for NHS treatment 3,938 Providing occasional NHS treatment to non-registered patients 1,572 Registering charge exempt adults for NHS treatment 2,968 Registering charge paying adults for NHS treatment 2,604 Primary care trusts (PCTs) local distance standards were collected for the dental access performance indicator for 2003–04 They range from two miles to 35 miles in urban areas for routine and urgent calls. In rural areas, they range front two miles to 35 miles for routine calls and 2.5 miles to 50 miles for urgent calls. The majority of PCTs have set standards of 10 miles for routine calls and 15 males for urgent calls. The maximum distance that patients ill PCTs in England are expected to travel to receive NHS dental care under locally agreed standards is 35 miles in urban areas and 50 miles in rural areas.
In order to improve access to NHS dental treatment, we are delegating the commissioning of primary care dental services to PCTs as part of the most far-reaching 1959W reform of NHS dentistry since the inception of the service in 1948. The reform is backed by extra investment of £368 million.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department plans to update the Dental Workforce Review. [187888]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonWe are taking a range of measures to increase workforce capacity including
increasing the dental workforce capacity by the equivalent of 1,000 additional dentists by October 2005;increasing the number of dental school places by 25 per cent., from October2005; supported by capital investment of up to £80 million over four years;expanding of the whole dental team (including a new school for the professions complementary to dentistry), which will free up time for dentists to take on more complex work;introducing personal dental services (PDS) and the new contractual arrangements (based on PDS) which will produce an environment in which dentists want to do more National Health Service work;devolving funding to PCTs from October 2005, with a 19 per cent., increase in funding over 2003–4—an extra 250 million a year.
§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those European Economic Area countries where practical experience gained using mannequins rather than live patients can satisfy the requirement for mandatory practical instruction for trainee dentists. [188036]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonEEC Directive 78/687 requires member states to ensure that dentists "complete at least a five year full-time course of theoretical and practical instruction", guaranteeing that they have acquired "suitable clinical experience under appropriate supervision". It is the responsibility of each member state to ensure that the qualifications they award to dentists comply in every respect with applicable European Union standards which could not be attained without experience of treating live patients. We are not aware of any evidence that this obligation is failing to be met.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of training a dentist was in each of the last five years; how many dentists were trained in each year; what the total amount spent on training dentists was in each year; and how many of the dentists trained in each year now work for the NHS. [189037]
§ Ms Rosie Winterton[holding answer 14 September 2004]: The information available is shown in the table.
Dental graduates qualifying from dental schools in England Estimated cost of training a dentist £ thousand Estimated expenditure on training dentists £ million 1998–1999 581 135 79 1999–2000 585 139 81 2000–01 618 143 84 2001–02 591 146 87 2002–03 549 150 90 A majority of new graduates go on to work as independent contractors with National Health Service contracts, but information on the extent of their commitment to the NHS is not held centrally. On 1960W 16 July my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced that we are to provide 170 additional training places for undergraduates in dentistry from October 2005. The increase will be supported by capital investment of £80 million over the next four years and additional revenue funds reaching £29 million by 2010–11.
§ Mr. Boris JohnsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of the new Dentists NHS Contract on NHS dentistry provision in Oxfordshire. [187505]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe base contract for local commissioning becomes operational on 1 October 2005 and I am advised that detailed planning is being undertaken in Oxfordshire, to ensure a smooth transition. The new contracting arrangements will improve the quality of patient care, improve access to national health service services and improve working conditions for dentists and their teams. This builds on the recognition that Oxfordshire has used all current flexibilities to improve services and is working proactively to increase access by supporting dentists who wish to move to local commissioning early under the personal dental services (PDS).
The measures in the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 represent the most radical reform of NHS dentistry since 1948. The proposals for NHS dentistry will underpin a modernised, high-quality primary dental service provided through contracts between primary care trusts (PCTs) and dental practices. The service will be properly integrated with the rest of the NHS, providing better access to services and an improved patient experience.
The new arrangements are modelled on five years successful experience of PDS pilots. The PDS continues to provide an opportunity for those dentists and their PCTs who wish to move further and faster towards local commissioning to do so. There are already more than 1,500 dentists in more than 750 practices working under PDS arrangements, out of a total of around 9,000 practices. The Department will support PCTs and volunteer dental practices to move early to local commissioning under existing piloting arrangements.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentistry practices in England are accepting NHS patients; how many on average accepted NHS patients in 1994; and how many individual dentists this represents in each case. [188978]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe number of general dental service or personal dental service dental practices, which appear on the NHS.UK website as accepting new national health service patients on 15 September 2004, is shown in the table.
1961W
Registering children aged 0–18 years for NHS treatment 3,936 Providing occasional NHS treatment to non-registered patients 1,561 Registering charge exempt adults for NHS treatment 2,969 Registering charge paying adults for NHS treatment 2,604 Information on the number of dentist practices accepting NHS patients is not available for 1994, as NHS Direct was not established, nor is information held centrally on the number of the dentists in the practices on the NHS website. The number of NHS dentists (general and personal dental services) dentists has increased from 15,813 at December 1994 to 19,278 at December 2003, an increase of 3,465.
Number of dentists at June each year PCT 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Bath and North East Somerset 84 85 90 92 93 98 98 100 Mendip 38 43 42 49 48 45 51 54 North Somerset 82 89 91 95 98 97 92 107 Somerset Coast 40 42 41 48 45 50 46 50 South Somerset 56 57 56 57 59 57 62 64 Taunton Deane 47 47 45 45 59 61 69 68 Source: Dental Practice Board Dentists are counted in each PCT in which they practise.
The figures are based on the number of dentists with an open GDS or PDS contract and include principals, assistants and trainees in the GDS. Dentists have been counted more than once if he/she works in more than one PCT.
The figures provide a snapshot of the number of individual dentists with an open contract at 30 June each year. The total number of dentists in the Somerset PCTs has increased from 347 in June 1997 to 443 in June 2004.