Dental Services (Hansard, 5 November 1996)

§ 11. Mr. Bellingham
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for improving dental care in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire; and if he will make a statement. [619]

§ Mr. Malone
The general dental service reforms that I announced on 12 June will bring improvements in dental care generally. Funding to improve the availability of national health service dentistry has recently been approved for Cambridge and Huntingdon health authority.

§ 24. Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the proposed new local contracting arrangements for NHS dentistry. [634]

§ Mr. Malone
The White Paper, "Choice and Opportunity", set out the Government's proposal to introduce local flexibility in the delivery of national health service primary care dental services. We intend to introduce a Bill this Session. It will enable health authorities and providers to propose local arrangements for securing services targeted at local needs. These arrangements will be piloted and evaluated. Participation will be by volunteers and the existing system will remain for dentists who wish to work under it.

26. Mr. Bendel
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists are practising in Berkshire; and how many of them are taking on new adult national health service patients. [636]

§ Mr. Malone
The information is contained in the table.

General dental service: number of dentists^{1 2} practising in Berkshire health authority and number of dentists^{1 2} who had additions to their register

Number of dentists practising at 30 June 1996 Number of dentists with an addition to their register in the year to 31 December 1995 ³

284 269

¹ Includes principals, assistants and vocational trainees.

² Some dentists have a contract with more than one health authority. The number of dentists practising includes all dentists who practise in Berkshire as well as in other authorities.

³ The additions to the register include instances of patients registering with a dentist after a break in attendance and reinstatement of registrations which had been cancelled in error.

The count relates to registrations for which payments were authorised during the year. Payments are made one month in arrears.

General dental service: number of dentists^{1 2} practising in Berkshire health authority and number of dentists^{1 2} who had additions to their register
Number of dentists practising at 30 June 1996	Number of dentists with an addition to their register in the year to 31 December 1995 ³
284	269
¹ Includes principals, assistants and vocational trainees.
² Some dentists have a contract with more than one health authority. The number of dentists practising includes all dentists who practise in Berkshire as well as in other authorities.
³ The additions to the register include instances of patients registering with a dentist after a break in attendance and reinstatement of registrations which had been cancelled in error.
The count relates to registrations for which payments were authorised during the year. Payments are made one month in arrears.