§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the criteria his Department uses in assessing whether NHS dentistry is available to those who need it; and how many extra dentists will be required to ensure full availability, on these criteria, by 2001. [143259]
§ Mr. HuttonWe are committed to making National Health Service Dentistry available to all who need it by September 2001. The key test for this target will be whether callers (to the health authority or to NHS Direct) can be offered dentistry.
418WThere are more dentists working within the General Dental Service than ever before. In England there are now about 18,040, over 1,600 up on 1997. Availability problems are not caused by a shortage of dentists but by the amount of time dentists dedicate to private work. To address this problem the dental strategy, "Modernising NHS Dentistry: Implementing the NHS Plan", offers incentives to NHS dentists to maintain and increase the amount of NHS work they do. The strategy also allows health authorities to commission personal dental services in areas where there are access difficulties.