§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs) of the funding announced in his Department's press release of 18 September; and what guidance he will issue to PCTs on how their allocations on local dental services are to be spent. [145178]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonOn 18 September 2003, we announced new investment totalling £65.2 million for dentistry. This consisted of £35 million capital for dental access and quality, £30 million for dental information technology (IT) and £200,000 for developing dental leadership. This was on top of revenue funding we announced in August of £9 million for targeted support on dental access and £1 million for organisation development. We subsequently announced on 971W 25 November 2003 further revenue funding of £15 million to support access for patients to a modernised national health service dental service, bringing the total of new funding announced this year for dentistry to £90.2 million.
The £30 million investment in IT will facilitate integration of dental practices with wider NHS (IT) systems and will support local contracting. The IT investment and solutions for dentistry consistent with other NHS information technology initiatives are being taken forward within the national programme for IT.
The funding of £200,000 for developing dental leadership is aimed at strategic health authority level to support primary care trusts (PCTs) in delivering the modernisation agenda for dentistry.
The organisational development funds of £1 million are being distributed in line with advice from strategic health authorities (SHAs). They are intended to help PCTs, local dental committees and dentists to prepare for the change in the way dental services are commissioned. £0.3 million has been distributed for 2003–04 and the remaining £0.7 million will be distributed for use in 2004–05.
The balance of £59 million is intended to support dental access and quality as follows:
£9 million is for the NHS dentistry support team that has been set up to work with those areas where it is hardest to find an NHS dentist. These funds are being used in a targeted way to support local action plans for improving access to dentistry. The NHS support team have identified 16 PCTs with specific dental access issues. Funding for these PCTs, which are shown in the following list, will take into account the challenge faced by the individual PCTs and the potential benefit of the proposals in the dental action plan that each of the challenged PCTs is developing. Draft plans are now starting to arrive. The team allocated £200,000 in 2003–04, and will be increasing the pace of allocations early in 2004–05 based on the plans currently in preparation;£35 million capital funds are to enable PCTs to invest in primary care premises and facilities to improve access and quality. These funds will be distributed on a fair-shares basis at SHA level and then on a targeted basis to PCTs on the advice of the SHAs. The fair shares for SHAs are set out in the table. The bulk of the funds will be spent in 2004–05 to allow SHAs and PCTs to plan for its investment; and£15 million revenue funding for 2004–05 to support access will also be allocated on a fair-shares basis at SHA level and, on the advice of the SHA, on a targeted basis to PCTs. The SHA fair shares allocations of these funds are set out in the table.Guidance for PCTs on commissioning NHS dentistry, including the allocation of £35 million capital and £15 million revenue to support access, quality and choice was issued on 15 January 2004. The guidance makes it clear that access remains a key priority in the run-up to the new arrangements for dentistry from April 2005.
PCTs which have been identified for support from the NHS Dentistry Support Team:
- Fareham and Gosport;
- Isle of Wight;
- New Forest;
972W - West Gloucestershire;
- North East Lincolnshire;
- Scarborough, Whitby and Rydedale;
- Craven, Harrogate and Rural District;
- Northumbria Care Trust;
- Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale;
- Hyndeburn and Ribble;
- Blackburn with Darwen;
- Morecambe Bay;
- Shropshire County;
- Telford and Wrekin;
- South West Staffordshire; and
- Central Cheshire.
£000 Strategic Health Authority Capital Revenue England 35,000 15,000 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 1,396 598 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 1,039 446 Birmingham and The Black Country 1,771 761 Cheshire and Merseyside 1,853 796 County Durham and Tees Valley 894 384 Cumbria and Lancashire 1,411 602 Dorset and Somerset 814 349 Essex 1,071 458 Greater Manchester 1,987 852 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 1,148 492 Kent and Medway 1,071 459 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland 962 412 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 1,416 607 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 1,073 460 North Central London 961 413 North East London 1,297 556 North West London 1,344 575 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 1,089 466 Shropshire and Staffordshire 988 425 South East London 1,165 499 South West London 863 370 South West Peninsula 1,092 469 South Yorkshire 981 420 Surrey and Sussex 1,689 723 Thames Valley 1,285 550 Trent 1,813 777 West Midlands South 1,013 433 West Yorkshire 1,514 648