Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all dentists are eligible for free influenza vaccinations.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Dentists are eligible for a free flu vaccine through occupational health arrangements made by their employer. Flu vaccination is recommended for all frontline healthcare workers who have direct contact with patients and service users. Employers should commission a service which makes access easy for all frontline staff, encourage staff to get vaccinated and monitor the delivery of their programmes.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefits to patients of designating dentists and dental teams as key workers.
Answered by Lord Bethell
All frontline health and social care staff are designated as key workers including dentists and their teams.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the provision of supervised tooth brushing programmes for children; and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of those programmes on reducing oral health inequalities in children in England.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As set out in the green paper Advancing our health; Prevention in the 2020s, the Government intends to seek views on the merits of expanding the current provision to reach more children in pre-school and primary school settings in England. Water fluoridation is also clinically proven to improve oral health particularly for children. The green paper set out a commitment to reduce the barriers to expanding water fluoridation and this is being carefully considered.
There has been no recent national evaluation of the effectiveness of the existing local authority led individual schemes that promote toothbrushing. Public Health England regularly review available evidence on the effectiveness of measures to promote oral health including supervised toothbrushing. This includes evidence from schemes in England and those in other parts of the United Kingdom including the well-established scheme in Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to bring forward proposals (1) to improve children’s oral health, and (2) to reduce the number of children admitted to hospital for dental extractions in England.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As set out in the green paper Advancing our health; Prevention in the 2020s, the Government intends to seek views on the merits of expanding the current provision to reach more children in pre-school and primary school settings in England. Water fluoridation is also clinically proven to improve oral health particularly for children. The green paper set out a commitment to reduce the barriers to expanding water fluoridation and this is being carefully considered.
There has been no recent national evaluation of the effectiveness of the existing local authority led individual schemes that promote toothbrushing. Public Health England regularly review available evidence on the effectiveness of measures to promote oral health including supervised toothbrushing. This includes evidence from schemes in England and those in other parts of the United Kingdom including the well-established scheme in Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan (1) to confirm the funding, and (2) to announce the timing, of the next Adult Dental Health Survey.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Funding has been received for 2019/20. The Adult Dental Health Survey protocol has been developed and stakeholder engagement completed. Funding for 2020/21 would enable the commencement of the survey fieldwork. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impact on the clinical examination.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the impact of (1) the limited availability of, and (2) the long waiting times for, dental treatments under general anaesthesia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on children and vulnerable adults.
Answered by Lord Bethell
With NHS services under intense pressure as COVID-19 spread, we ensured that we had as many beds available as possible to care for patients with severe respiratory problems during the COVID-19 pandemic peak.
To enable this, every hospital in England suspended non-urgent elective operations to free up additional capacity needed to assist with the COVID-19 response. With the pandemic easing, National Health Service providers are now expected to recover the maximum elective activity possible between now and winter, making full use of available capacity both in the NHS and in contracted independent hospitals.
Elective care activity is now ramping up, and by October we expect the NHS to deliver:
- The same number of outpatient attendances, follow ups, scans and endoscopy procedures as October last year; and
- 90% of the overnight elective procedures and day cases carried out last October.
Dental extractions which require general anaesthesia and therefore are carried out in hospital are included in this recovery by the NHS.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the NHS dental budget to mitigate any effects resulting from the reduction in routine dental care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
National Health Service dentists have been receiving their full funding with minor adjustments throughout the COVID-19 period. They are now open for face to face including routine care and are restarting services in line with the increased infection control required to minimise the risk of transmission. NHS England and NHS Improvement are carefully considering any impact this may have on the overall provision of primary care dental services.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the National Health Service (Dental Charges) Regulations 2005 will be amended to set out any revised NHS dental charges in England for the year commencing April 2020.
Answered by Lord Bethell
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic climate a decision was made to freeze dental patient charges at 2019/20 levels. This is a temporary freeze being kept under review. No changes have been made to current dental exemption arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what the evidence base was for excluding dental practices from the business rate relief support being offered during the COVID-19 pandemic; and what plans they have, if any, to extend that support to include such practices.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government has provided enhanced support to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors through business rates relief given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.
A range of further measures to support all businesses, including those not eligible for the business rates holiday, such as medical service providers, has also been made available.
The Government will consider any further financial assistance necessary to help businesses get through this period.
Asked by: Lord Colwyn (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average cost per student to the public purse in providing (1) a Bachelor of Dental Surgery, and (2) foundation training for a dental graduate.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not routinely collected centrally. However, the Department estimates that the total Government outlay is on average around £230,000 for the provision of a Bachelor of Dental Surgery, and around £110,000 for the provision of foundation training for a dental graduate.