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 reduce NHS dentist waiting lists in (a) the London Borough of Southwark and (b) London.

Continuous registration with a dental practice is not required. Patients are only registered with a dental practice for the course of their treatment, therefore patients do not routinely join dental waiting lists and no data exists on the average length of time it takes for a patient to get access to a course of treatment.

National Health Service dentists are required to update their NHS.UK profiles regularly to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.

In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.

In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in London. These will increase access to NHS dentistry for patients of all ages, whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. We have taken action to implement these changes, including through regulations that came into effect on 25 November 2022.

NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System coming shortly this year.