HC Deb 04 February 2004 vol 417 cc959-61W
Sarah Teather

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost of dental treatment in(a) Brent, (b) London and (c) England was in each year since 1997. [149898]

Mr. Hutton

The average costs of a course of dental treatment in the general dental service for adults and children in England, London and Brent and Harrow Health Authority (HA) for each financial year are shown in Table 1 for the period 1997–98 to the first half of 2002–03 and for Brent Primary Care Trust (PCT) for the second half of 2002–03 in Table 2.

These costs are for payment made to the dentist for dental treatment. These include the patient charges where applicable. They exclude patient registration payments to the dentists. Some patients may have more than one course of treatment in a year.

The averages for children excludes courses of treatment involving an examination only, which are not paid for separately but covered by the patient registration payment to dentists.

Table 1: General Dental Service—Average cost of dental treatment for 1997–98 to 2002–03 first half
£
England London Brent and Harrow Health Authority
Children Adult Children Adult Children Adult
1997–98 26.1 32.5 36.2 47.2 36.6 45.7
1998–99 28.5 33.5 39.1 48.8 32.8 47.7
1999–2000 29.9 34.8 42.3 51.7 34.0 50.6
2000–01 32.0 35.5 45.7 52.9 37.2 52.6
2001–02 34.5 36.3 48.3 54.7 40.9 54.3
2002–031 35.7 37.4 49.0 57.2 42.2 56.2
1 Covers period from 30 April 2002 to 30 September 2002.

Source:

Dental Practice Board.

Table 2: General Dental Service—Average cost of dental treatment for 2002–03 second half
£
2002–031 Children Adult
England 37.5 37.2
London 50.8 56.1
Brent PCT 39.1 55.4
1 Covers period from 31 October 2002 to 31 March 2003.

Source:

Dental Practice Board.

Sarah Teather

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists' surgeries in Brent East constituency are accepting new NHS patients. [149905]

Mr. Hutton

Figures collected by the Department are by primary care trust (PCT) and not by constituency.

Brent PCT has:

  • 51 dental surgeries accepting children (latest data available—January 2004);
  • 13 dental surgeries accepting national health service charge-paying patients i.e. those not exempt from payment (latest data available—January 2004); and
  • 44 dental surgeries accepting NHS charge-exempt patients (latest data available—October 2003).

The nhs.uk website at: www.nhs.uk/root/administration/reports/dentalreport.asp gives information on dental practices and whether or not new patients are being accepted.

Note:

1. Some surgeries may accept more than one type of patient. So the overall total of 64 surgeries includes some surgeries which are not accepting new NHS patients.

2. There may be some dental surgeries which are not included in the nhs.uk figures. nhs.uk figures have been used here because that source gives information on dentists' acceptance practices.

Bob Spink

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) NHS and (b) private dental practices there are in (i) the Castle Point and Rochford Primary Care Trust and (ii) the Essex Strategic Health Authority. [152441]

Dr. Ladyman

At August 2003 there were 21 general dental service practices in Castle Point and Rochford Primary Care Trust and 248 practices in Essex Strategic Health Authority.

Information on the number of private dental practices is not collected centrally. Generally, few dental practices are wholly private.