Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase access to NHS dentistry in North Shropshire constituency.

Within the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board (ICB), in the 24 months to June 2023, 174,305 adults saw a National Health Service dentist, equal to 43% of the adult population in the ICB. This is higher than the national figure, which was 41% over the same period. In the 12 months to June 2023, 59,704 children saw an NHS dentist in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB, equal to 59% of the child population in the ICB. This is higher than the national figure, which was 53% over the same period.

On 7 February 2024 we published Our Plan to Recover and Reform NHS Dentistry. The plan will make dental services faster, simpler and fairer for patients, and will fund around 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan also sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, address underlying issues, and set out the steps needed for longer term reform of the system. As part of the plan, we will also launch a new golden hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work.

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.