§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental practices in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly(a)have NHS registered patients, (b)are accepting new NHS patients and (c)have no NHS registrations. [175359]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThere are 92 dental practice addresses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly for the general dental service (GDS) and personal dental service (PDS) of the national health service. 84 practice addresses have registered patients. Eight practice addresses have no registrations, of which four are for emergency only. Two are PDS practices which do not have patient registrations and one GDS practice does orthodontic work only.
The available information on practices accepting new patients is on the NHS.UK website at www.nhs.uk. There are three primary care trusts (PCTs) in the Cornwall area: Central Cornwall PCT; North and East Cornwall PCT and West of Cornwall PCT. The table shows the number of practices in each PCT accepting new patients by type of patient on 24 May.
Number of dental practices in Cornwall and Isle of Scilly accepting new NHS patients by type of patient PCT Registering children aged 0 to 18 years for NHS
treatment
Charge paying
adults
Charge exempt
adults
Occasional non-registered
patients
Central Cronwall 8 3 3 1 North and East Cornwall 5 2 2 — West of Cornwall 3 2 2 3 Total 16 7 7 4
§ Virginia BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the availability of NHS dentistry in(a)South West Surrey constituency and (b)Surrey. [177270]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe proposals in the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 in relation to primary dental services represent the most radical reform of national health service dentistry since 1948. They will give a better deal for patients, for dentists and for the NHS. Under these proposals, primary care trusts (PCTs) will have a duty to secure the provision of primary dental services.
Nationally, we have provided new investment totalling £90 million over the last year. £59 million will support access, and strategic health authorities (SHAs) 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 Surrey are working closely with their SHA (Surrey and Sussex) supported by the shadow special health authority (dentistry) to improve local dental access using their share of the access funds: some £1.69 million in 2004–05.