§ Mr. LansleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) why the appropriation aid provision in the Estimates attributable to dental charges is reduced in 2004–05 to £229,550,000 from £491,000,000 in 2003–04; [168945]
(2) why the provision in the Estimates for general dental services in 2004–05 is £245 million less than the provision in 2003–04. [168947]
§ Ms Rosie Winterton[holding answer 27 April 20041: The Government are committed to rebuilding and restoring national health service dentistry to improve the oral health of the nation. Overall expenditure on dental services, covering both general dental services (CDS) and personal dental services (PDS) and the associated income from dental charges, is expected to rise in 2004–05. However, in drawing up the estimate for this early stage in the year, provision for primary dental services has been split initially between section D (GDS) of the estimate and section A (aggregate provision for strategic health authority and primary care trust budgets and central allocations). This is because an 794W increasing number of dental practices are converting from general dental practice contracts to PDS contracts. PDS contracts are funded from discretionary allocations delegates to PCTs, whereas GDS are funded from a national, non-discretionary budget.
The balance of provision between the two sections of the estimate, and the associated charge income, will be adjusted at a supplementary estimate stage when the level of conversion from the GDS to the PDS over the coming 12 months is known. As a non-discretionary service, provision for the GDS will be adjusted to reflect the volume of dentistry delivered by general dental practitioners.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls to NHS Direct about access to an NHS dentists there were in each month since November 2001, broken down by(a) emergency, (b) urgent, (c) routine and (d) other calls for (i) England and (ii) each strategic health authority. [166118]
§ Mr. HuttonCalls to NHS Direct about access to a National Health Service dentist in each month since November 2001 by emergency, urgent, routine and other are shown in the table.
This information is not collated centrally for each strategic health authority.
Number Total Emergency Urgent Routine Not known November 2001 10,922 1,143 2,542 6,546 691 December 2001 10,023 1,456 3,274 4,482 811 January 2002 13,064 1,605 3,078 7,124 1,257 February 2002 10,316 1,073 2,902 5,535 806 March 2002 13,336 1,061 3,849 6,742 1,684 April 2002 15,472 1,666 4,241 8,322 1,243 May 2002 15,693 1,506 4,287 8,361 1,539 June 2002 14,726 1,551 4,598 7,145 1,432 July 2002 16,032 1,539 4,164 8,827 1,502 August 2002 15,797 1,584 4,646 8,303 1,264 September 2002 14,862 1,387 3,886 8,229 1,360 October 2002 15,912 1,409 3,457 9,671 1,375 November 2002 15,770 1,456 3,381 9,505 1,428 December 2002 14,629 1,729 4,308 7,149 1,443 January 2003 17,860 1,614 3,648 10,952 1,646 February 2003 13,576 1,220 3,075 7,968 1,313 March 2003 15,325 1,416 3,407 9,093 1,409 April 2003 15,863 1,399 3,510 9,446 1,508 May 2003 16,257 1,471 3,977 9,307 1,502 June 2003 17,404 1,563 3,823 10,485 1,533 July 2003 19,012 1,581 4,192 10,723 2,516 August 2003 18,016 1,806 4,201 10,471 1,538 September 2003 19,472 1,708 4,117 11,350 2,297 October 2003 19,829 1,529 3,733 10,905 3,662 January 2004 19,702 1,462 3,613 12,726 1,901 February 2004 18,258 1,575 3,653 11,312 1,718
§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) dental practices and (b) dentists in Hampshire provide NHS treatment; how many hours of NHS dentistry they offer each (i) week and (ii) month; and if he will make a statement on the availability of NHS dental treatment in Hampshire. [168096]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe latest available information for Hampshire shows that there were 288 dental practices and 635 dentists providing national health service dental services in the general dental services or personal dental services.
795WIn the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority there were 62 dentists working full or part-time in the Community Dental Service area (a whole time equivalent of 42) and, in the hospital dental service, there were 57 dentists (48 whole-time equivalent). Information on the number of practices is not available.
Information is not available on the number of hours worked as general dental practitioners are independent contractors who are able to vary the amount of NHS dentistry they do and to vary then working week.
We are currently taking forward major reforms of NHS dentistry through proposals in the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. Under these proposals, primary care trusts (PCT) will have a duty to secure the provision of primary dental services. With these new responsibilities will go the £1.3 billion financial resources (2003–04) currently held centrally. The reforms will give a better deal for patients, for dentists and for the NHS.
In the run up to the changes, we have provided new investment totalling £90 million to improve NHS dentistry. £59 million will support access, and strategic health authorities have been advised of their shares and are working with their PCTs to address access issues. £30 million is to support information technology and the balance of £1 million will support organisational development locally.
The PCTs in Hampshire are working closely with their strategic health authority (Hampshire and Isle of Wight) supported by the shadow special health authority (dentistry) to improve local dental access using their share of the access funds: some £1.64 million in 2004–05.
§ Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists have left the NHS, in whole or in part, to work in the private sector in each year since 1997 in(a) Greater London and (b) each London borough. [168940]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonInformation on the total number of dentists leaving the general dental service (GDS) or personal dental service (PDS) is given in the table for primary care trust (PCT) areas in London; information is not collected by borough. Information is not available on the reason for leaving.
Dentists can leave the national health service for a variety of reasons. These include retirements, short-term absence, leaving for other employment as well as dentists leaving the NHS dental services to practise wholly privately. Those working in the GDS can increase or reduce their NHS commitment, and this is not reflected in the figures.
Few dentists leave the NHS altogether to practise privately. The Office of Fair Trading report, "The private dentistry market in the UK", stated that only 210 practices are totally private in the United Kingdom out of 11,000 practices in total.
The number of NHS dentists in the Greater London area increased from 3,107 in September 1997 to 3,444 in September 2003.
796W
Table 1: Number of leavers from GDS and PDS Year ending 30 September Primary Care Trust 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Barking and Dagenham 2 1 3 3 6 1 Barnet 12 13 6 13 10 11 Bexley Care Trust 2 6 6 6 7 5 Brent 7 10 4 7 11 11 Bromley 13 2 9 7 8 9 Camden 17 14 13 12 23 11 City and Hackney 9 5 9 6 9 4 Croydon 17 13 9 13 20 5 Ealing 10 13 32 7 21 1 Enfield 10 10 8 8 4 10 Greenwich 4 6 7 7 5 4 Hammersmith and Fulham 4 3 10 9 19 2 Haringey 8 3 11 13 9 8 Harrow 2 6 7 4 7 2 Havering 3 5 5 5 7 7 Hillingdon 6 9 5 9 11 8 Hounslow 6 3 14 13 14 2 Islington 7 7 12 9 12 14 Kensington and Chelsea 10 2 6 5 7 11 Kingston 1 4 7 8 7 2 Lambeth 12 21 8 14 14 5 Lewisham 3 13 9 9 16 5 Newham 5 5 5 9 6 6 Redbridge 5 5 7 9 13 9 Richmond and Twickenham 3 6 9 10 6 6 Southwark 4 10 6 13 6 6 Sutton and Merton 9 8 12 9 17 11 Tower Hamlets 4 6 5 4 7 5 Waltham Forest 7 2 2 5 5 6 Wandsworth 19 10 16 17 19 25 Westminster 13 26 12 24 21 19 Greater London PCTs 234 247 274 287 347 231 Note: Information is not available on the number of dentists who have partially left the NHS. Dentists in the GDS and PDS are mainly self-employed and are free to vary the amount of NHS work that they do.
§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the availability of NHS dentists in(a) Plympton, (b) Plymstock and (c) South West Devon; and if he will make a statement; [169397]
(2) what steps he intends to take to increase the number of NHS dentists in South West Devon. [169398]
§ Ms Rosie Winterton[holding answer 29 April 2004]: The number of dental undergraduates is increasing and we are seeking to attract new graduates into national health service dentistry, to bring back returners to practice and to recruit overseas dentists. At a local level, the whole of the South West Peninsula Strategic Health Authority area has been identified as an "Options for Change" field site and dentists are increasingly opting for the new ways of working that personal dental services allows. A total of 18 practices across the South West Peninsula, including two in Plymouth, have now adopted local contracts with their primary care trusts under "Options for Change".
§ Mr. ChallenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the trend has been in the number of NHS dentistry patients in each year since 1997 in Morley and Rothwell. [169410]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested for Leeds Health Authority (HA) and South Leeds Primary Care Trust (PCT), which covers Morley and Rothwell, is shown in the tables.
797W
General Dental Service: children and adult registration list sizes and registration rates at 30 September 1977 to 2001—Leeds HA Number of registrations Registration rate (percentage) Adult Child Total Adult Child Total 1997 304,406 111,899 416,305 55 68 58 1998 273,722 104,724 378,446 50 64 53 1999 269,879 104,494 374,373 49 64 52 2000 269,905 104,420 374,325 49 65 53 2001 266,807 101,479 368,286 48 63 52
General Dental Service: children and adult registration list sizes and registration rates at 30 September 2002 to 20031—South Leeds PCT Number of registrations Registration rule (percentage) Adult Child Total Adult Child Total 2002 56,298 21,626 77,924 51 61 53 2003 55,172 21,067 76,239 50 59 52 1Following transfer from HAs to PCTs in 2002, results were published for PCTs rather than HAs. Notes: 1. Based on the number of registrations at 30 September each year. 2. Registration rates are based on a 15 month registration period. Following the change of registration rate from 24 months to 15 months September 1997 rates are affected. 3. Population data are ONS mid year census estimates.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 April 2004,Official Report, column 255W, on dentists, if he will estimate the impact of the recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence draft guidance on the patient charge revenue from dental examinations. [169720]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe National Institute for Clinical Excellence's (NICE) consultation document on dental recall intervals does not constitute its formal guidance: the recommendations are preliminary and may change after the consultation. Dentists will be expected to follow the final advice, which NICE is expected to publish later this year. This may mean that patients with low risk of disease are seen less frequently than now.
We have also set up a working group under the chairmanship of Harry Cayton, the Department's director for patients and the public, to recommend a new patient charge system. This group has now reported and we are considering its recommendations. We hope to publish the report in due course.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people failed to attend NHS dentist appointments in(a) 2003–04 and (b) each of the preceding five years in (i) Worthing and (ii) England. [170630]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonNo information is available on the number of people failing to attend national health service dental appointments. Details of missed appointments are held only by the dentists and are not collected centrally.