Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Pakes and Stephen Kinnock

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care pointed out, when we won the general election on 4 July, we inherited public finances in their worst state since the second world war. Through the Chancellor, we have taken responsible action to deal with those issues. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has also said that we are looking at the Budget in the round, and we will report on that in due course.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

7. What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to NHS dentists.

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[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

After 14 years of Tory neglect and incompetence, NHS dentistry in England has been left in a parlous state. Tooth decay is the most common reason why children aged five to nine are admitted to hospital, and 28% of the country—13 million people—have an unmet need for dentistry. Rescuing NHS dentistry will not happen overnight. We will expand the provision of urgent dental appointments across the country, and we are working with the sector to reform the dental contract in order to increase access and incentivise more NHS care.

[Andrew Pakes]

Yesterday, I heard from a disabled constituent who has spent over a year trying to find an NHS dentist, but without success. The only solution was to come to London for emergency treatment—that became a shockingly common story under the previous Government. As a first step, our integrated care board is putting 12 extra dentists into Peterborough and the surrounding towns to increase access. Will the Minister update the House on progress and on how we will further improve access to NHS dentistry?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I am very pleased to hear about what my hon. Friend’s ICB is doing. Working with the dental sector, we will deliver measures to improve access, targeting areas that need it most. Those measures include 700,000 additional urgent appointments and reform of the dental contract. The golden hello scheme, which incentivises dentists to work in underserved areas, is under way across the country, and dentists are also being offered a new patient premium to treat new patients.