§ Mr. BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 10 June,Official Report, column 423, on dental services, if he will list equivalent figures for lapsed dental registration in the three years before the introduction of dental check-up charges, and in each year subsequent to it. [4219]
§ Mr. MilburnThe adult patient charge for dental examinations was introduced in January 1989. Adults were first registered under the new dental contract in October 1990; the first registration lapses occurred two years later. The number of adult registration lapses for each of the full years 1993–94 to 1996–97 is given in the table.
General dental service: Number of adult registration lapses England Year Million 1993–94 4.2 1994–95 4.7 1995–96 4.6 1996–97 4.1 1. The first adult registration lapses occurred in the autumn of 1992, mid-way during the financial year 1992–93. During that part year there were 2.8 million lapses
300W2. These figures relate to the number of adult registrations lapsed after a period of two years during which the patient had not attended the dentist. These figures are affected by improvements in the Dental Practice Board procedures for eliminating duplicate registrations.