§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistics his Department has collected on the availability of NHS dentistry in each year since 1997; if he will make a statement on the level of availability of NHS dentistry; and what measures he is taking to increase the availability of NHS dentistry. [134710]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonFor the general dental service (GDS), statistics are available each month as a byproduct of the dentists' payment system. Relevant statistics include: the number of dentists; patient registrations; and the number of courses of treatment. The personal dental service (PDS) commenced in October 1998 and summary activity statistics are available. For the community dental service (CDS), data is available annually on the number of dentists and on activity. Information is also available annually on 865W the emergency dental service (EDS). Since November 2001, information is also available on dental telephone calls made to NHS Direct.
There were 18,200 GDS dentists in June this year, compared to 16,300 in June 1997; a rise of 1,900.
From September 1996, the registration period for adults was shortened from 24 months to 15 months. As a result adult registrations fell between 1997 and August 1998. Registrations lapse if a patient does not attend during the registration period. In the five years between September 1998 and September 2003, adult registrations fell by 100,000, or 0.7 per cent.
Children's registrations have fallen by 1.5 per cent., but the children's population is also falling.
The number of adult courses of treatment in the GDS increased by about one million between 1997–98 and 2002–03. In addition, 500,000 patients were seen in 2002–03 in the PDS, which started in October 1998.
With regard to EDS, a total of 17,000 sessions were worked in 1997–98 and 133,000 patients were seen. The corresponding figures for 2002–03 were 38,000 sessions and 241,000 patients.
The number of episodes of care in the CDS fell from 1.1 million in 1997–98 to 0.6 million in 2002–03. During this time some CDS services have moved into PDS arrangements.
The number of calls to NHS Direct increased from 11,000 in November 2001 to 18,000 in July 2003.
We recognise that in some areas people are not able to register with a national health service dentist. Patients who cannot or choose not to register with a dentist can access dental services by telephoning NHS Direct for information on NHS dental services. Arrangements are also in place for patients to be seen under the GDS on an occasional basis.
The Government remain committed to NHS dentistry and are taking forward major reform to modernise it. Subject to Parliament, under the Health & Social Care (Community Health & Standards) Bill primary care trusts (PCTs) will assume responsibility for commissioning primary dental services from April 2005. With this new responsibility will go the £1.2 billion funding for dentistry which is held centrally.
The Health & Social Care (Community Health & Standards) Bill will also enable PCTs to provide assistance and support to dental practices with which they contract. To enable PCTs to provide such assistance in advance of 2005, the General Dental Services Incentive Schemes Directions 2003 have been published, together with guidance to PCTs.
We have also set up a NHS support team to work with those areas which are hardest pressed and have announced new funding of £44 million to support dental access, choice and quality.