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<p>National Health Service dental provision has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced the number of available appointments in practices, including in Southport and the North West, due to necessary infection prevention and control procedures. NHS dentists have been asked to prioritise available capacity for urgent care, care for vulnerable groups and children, followed by delayed planned care.</p><p>We continue to monitor the delivery of NHS dentistry. Data for February 2022 indicates that an increasing number of courses of treatment are being delivered, including band 1 treatment and checks ups, in the North West and in the Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Partnership area.</p><p>We have made £50 million available for NHS dentistry in 2021/22 to allow more patients to obtain an NHS dental appointment. Of this, £7,310,000 has initially been made available for the <ins class="ministerial">North West</ins> <del class="ministerial">North East and Yorkshire</del>. We are currently developing proposals for dental system reform to improve access for patients.</p> |