§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were registered with (i) NHS and (ii) other dentists in(a) 1985, (b) 1990, (c) 1995 and (d) the last year for which figures are available. [72652]
§ Mr. DenhamThe average number of patients registered with General Dental Service (National Health Service) dentists in England for the year 1995 is 27.1 million. For the year 1998, the average is 24.1 million. The figures are averages of the end of month registration numbers. The two figures are not comparable because the registration period was changed for new registrations from September 1996.
Formal registration of patients was introduced on 1 October 1990, so figures for the years 1985 and 1990 are not available. Dentists who do not have NHS patients are not obliged to provide the Department with details of their patients and therefore we do not collect this information.