§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when amendments to the Dentists Act 1984 to recognise professional complementary dentists will come into force; [161294]
(2) when he expects registrations for professions complementary to dentistry to begin. [61302]
389W
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Department is working with the General Dental Council (CDC) to provide for the registration of appropriately trained professionals complementary to dentistry. An Order to amend the Dentists Act 1984 is being drafted under Section 60 of the Health Act 1999 which, after the necessary consultations, will be laid before Parliament later this year for debate under the affirmative procedure. We expect registration to commence in 2005.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimates he has made of the number of dental technicians who illegally provide dentures direct to the public; how many successful prosecutions have been made for cases of providing illegal dentures; and in how many of these cases harm was caused to a patient; [161295]
(2) what estimates he has made of the number of dentures (a) made and (b) sold illegally in each of the past five years. [161296]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonNo figures are available for the number of dentures made or sold by clinical dental technicians. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) on 9 February 2004,Official Report, column 1203W, with regard to the number of prosecutions and convictions for illegal dental practice. Information is not available on whether harm was caused to the patient involved, but I understand that the General Dental Council's decision to prosecute is usually prompted by a complaint from a patient.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to offer training programmes to prospective clinical dental technicians; and how long the training programmes will take to complete; [161298]
(2) whether the General Dental Council will accept qualifications received (a)outside the UK and (b) outside the EU as valid training for the role of clinical dental technician; [161299]
(3) how long the process of registering as a clinical dental technician will take; [161300]
(4) when the first UK trained clinical dental technician will be able to practise in the UK. [161301]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Department is working with the General Dental Council (GDC) to provide for the registration of appropriately trained clinical dental technicians (CDTs). An Order to amend the Dentists Act 1984 is being drafted under Section 60 of the Health Act 1999 which, after the necessary consultations, will be laid before Parliament later this year for debate under the affirmative procedure. The GDC will then decide which qualifications will make clinical dental technicians eligible for registration, what account should be taken of any training acquired overseas and the timetable for implementation of the new arrangements. It should be possible for registration to commence in 2005. When the qualifications required are established, we will alert national health service workforce development confederations to the training requirements for this new class of professional complementary to dentistry.
390W
§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the implementation of IT in pilot schemes for dentists; and if he will make a statement. [160525]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Department of Health has recently made funding, £517,000, available to primary care trusts, via the NHS Modernisation Agency, to support information technology software modifications in some of the Modernisation Agency's Options for Change field sites that are testing alternative models of remuneration for dentists.
In addition, in September 2003 we announced new investment including £30 million for dental information technology. This investment will facilitate integration of National Health Service dentistry within the national programme for IT. It is intended that future IT solutions for dentistry will be consistent with those that are being developed for use across the NHS.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists have been recruited to the NHS in each year since 1997 in(a) total, (b) NHS Trust areas covering Portsmouth and (c) NHS Trust areas covering Hampshire. [160770]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonInformation on the numberentering the general dental service (GDS) or the personal dental service (PDS) is shown in the table for England and Wales, Portsmouth Primary Care Trust (PCT) area and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area.
Number of entrants to the GDS or PDS England and Wales Hampshire and Isle of Wight SHA Portsmouth City PCT 2002 from 2001 1,619 84 11 2003 from 2002 1,587 89 10 Note:
Dentists include principal dentists, their assistants and trainees. Entrants will include some dentists who left dentistry temporarily in previous years.