§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what change there has been in the number of people taking dental examinations since the abolition of the free dental examination. [17363]
§ Mr. MaloneThe information available centrally is the number of courses of treatment for adults that either consist of, or include, dental examinations. This information is shown in the table.
General dental service: number of national health service dental examinations for adult patients in courses of treatment claimed for
in the financial years 1987–88 to 1993–94 in England
Year ending Examinations (thousands) 1987–88 19,889 1988–89 20,904 1989–90 19,402 1990–91 18,951 1991–92 19,548 1992–93 20,000 1993–94 19,488 Source:
Dental Practice Board.
Notes:
1. The Charge for dental examinations was introduced for courses of treatment commencing on or after 1 January 1989. The table relates to courses of treatment claimed for by dentists in the financial year. Because of the time lag between courses of treatment starting and finishing a large number of free examinations will be included in the financial year 1988£89. Some free examinations will be included in later years' figures.
2. The figures for examinations are the totals of items 1a and 1b in the statement of dental remuneration.
3. Numbers estimated from a 5 per cent. sample of courses of treatment.
933W
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made on the effect of the introduction of a sessional fees system for dentists on the number of dentists leaving the NHS system. [17364]
§ Mr. MaloneThe sessional model was one of the options outlined in the Green Paper "Improving NHS Dentistry". We are considering the responses from the consultation, and hope to be able to make an announcement shortly.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to include dental policy and practice as part of "The Health of the Nation" planning and documents. [17365]
§ Mr. MaloneOral health has been considered alongside the strategy for improving health set out in "The Health of the Nation". "An Oral Health Strategy for England", published in July 1994, reviewed the present state of oral health in England, identified problem areas and suggested in broad terms how these might be tackled. Both the contents of this document and decisions taken following the consultation of the Green Paper "Improving NHS Dentistry" will inform policy on how best to achieve future improvements in oral health.