HL Deb 18 December 2002 vol 642 cc125-6WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the integration of the management of prison dental services into health care, through joint working with the Dental Practice Board and healthcare managers in prison, has reduced the average waiting time for treatment of dental patient inmates. [HL620]

Lord Falconer of Thoroton

Prison Health has recently begun to collect data on waiting times for urgent and routine dental treatment in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales. However, it does not yet have sufficient information to show whether the improvements in prison dentistry now being introduced have yet led to any reduction in average waiting times across the prison estate.