Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the time taken to access dental services in Hitchin constituency.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and to recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

The local integrated care boards (ICBs) for Hitchen are also taking actions to support access to dental services. In May 2024, the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB introduced a Dental Access Pilot which all patients can access via the NHS111 service. This pilot involves a small cohort of dental contractors working across four areas, providing additional dental sessions on evenings, weekends, and bank holidays.

The Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB has been running a pilot scheme since December 2023 which provides additional urgent appointments during the day and in the evenings, as well as over weekends, to patients who are referred via NHS111.