Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timetable is for increasing availability to NHS dentistry (a) nationally and (b) by region.
Between April and June 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver at least 95% of contracted units of dental activity and 100% of units of orthodontic activity to improve access for patients safely. Many contractors are already delivering over 100% and the sector is working to safely return to pre-pandemic levels of activity as quickly as possible.
We have developed a number of short to medium term measures to National Health Service dentistry with a range of stakeholders, aimed at improving access and supporting NHS dentists and their teams. We are currently negotiating these measures with the British Dental Association and the development of further proposed changes will follow these discussions.