Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the proportion of patients accessing NHS dental services in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area.
The proportion of patients seen by a National Health Service dentist to 31 December 2020, in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is shown in the following table:
Local authority | Adults | Children |
Hampshire County Council | 478,602(43.6%) | 89,171 (31.4%) |
Isle of Wight Council | 52,276 (44.7%) | 6,399 (25.9%) |
The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Chief Dental Officer for England to increase levels of service, as fast as is safely possible. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through a NHS dental practice, they should contact NHS 111 for assistance. Over 600 urgent dental care centres remain open to help patients access care.