Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve access to NHS dentist appointments in North Shropshire.

This Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

The Integrated Care Board (ICB) has taken steps to improve access to NHS dental care in North Shropshire, but we know more needs to be done. The ICB is ensuring that undelivered NHS dental activity is redistributed to other practices to help support access to care.

Four practices across the North Shropshire parliamentary constituency recently saw an uplift to their Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) rate to £28. This should help support recruitment and retention of NHS dentists in this area. In addition, a new dental practice in Oswestry has increased their contracted UDAs and will do so again in April 2025.