Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria are used to prioritise patients on NHS dental waiting lists; and whether older people are given priority.

The 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 to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.

Patients in England are not registered with an NHS dental practice, and there is no single waiting list, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly and may operate local waiting list arrangements. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS website profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they should contact NHS 111.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care, including dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For Honiton and Sidmouth constituency, this is the NHS One Devon ICB.