§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the cost is of the mobile dental clinic at Highworth; and how many patients used it per day on average in the last 12 months; [45466]
(2) what the annual cost is of the Dental Access Centre in Swindon; and how many patients have been treated in the Centre since its opening; and how many on average per day; [45463]
§ Ms BlearsIn 2001–02 revenue costs of £1,233,000 were allocated to the Swindon Dental Access Centre by the Department of Health.
781W8,424 patients were seen in the Swindon Dental Access Centre between April 2000 and February 2002. Local management information is that in January 2002 the Centre saw an average of 41.2 patients a day across the three sites. The Centre provides a seven-day service.
It is not possible from the information collected centrally to identify cost and activity information for the individual sites within the Dental Access Centre. For more detailed information on cost and activity the hon. Member should contact the Chair of Wiltshire health authority.
§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration he has given to opening a dental access centre in North Wiltshire. [45465]
§ Ms BlearsApproval has been granted for the expansion of the Swindon Dental Access Centre to cover Chippenham. Planning permission has been granted for the development of a clinic and building work is expected to commence in April. The clinic is due to open in December 2002.