Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of access to NHS dentistry in Lancashire.

Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend, allowing patients the choice of where they would like to receive a course of treatment.

Within the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board and as of 2023, 78% of people trying to get an NHS appointment in the last two years were successful, compared to 77% nationally. In the previous 24 months up to June 2023, around 558,000 adults were seen by an NHS dentist. This was 41% of the total population, matching the national average. In addition, in the previous 12 months up to June 2023, around 196,000 children were seen by an NHS dentist, representing 55% of the total population, above the national average of 53%.

Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles regularly, at least every 90 days, to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.

The Dentistry Recovery Plan will make dental services faster, simpler and fairer for patients and will fund around 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, addressing underlying issues and setting out the action needed for longer term reform of the system.