§ Paddy AshdownTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to improve access to NHS dentistry in the Yeovil constituency; and if he will make a statement. [128788]
§ Mr. HuttonWe have already made good progress towards improving access to dental services in Yeovil, Somerset. Investing in dentistry grants amounting to nearly £200,000 have been paid to dentists in the Somerset Health Authority area in return for promises of up to 17,000 new National Health Service registrations. The NHS Executive is also working with Somerset Health Authority and East Somerset NHS Trust on plans for a dental access centre. The centre would be based on a network of clinic sites, including one in Yeovil. Access centres provide a full range of NHS dental treatment, routine and urgent, to people who are not registered with a dentist.
The NHS Executive wrote on 16 May to all health authority chief executives and regional dental advisers asking them to tell us whether more needs to be done to improve NHS dentistry in their locality and inviting ideas for potential funding.
285WFurther initiatives to improve access to services will form part of our plans for modernising NHS dentistry, which will be published this summer in conjunction with the National Plan for the New NHS.