Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the ability of patients in Shildon, Bishop Auckland, and across County Durham to access NHS dental services
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Northeast and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) is proactively issuing regular communications updates to patients and local stakeholders regarding the pressures facing National Health Service dentistry locally, whilst seeking to build resilience through local initiatives that seek to improve access to unscheduled urgent dental care for those in greatest clinical need.
Since taking on NHS Primary Care regulatory dental commissioning responsibility from NHS England on 1 April 2023, the Northeast and North Cumbria ICB have agreed to the establishment of a Local Dental Crisis Task and Finish Group to explore further ways in which the ICB could seek to address NHS dental access and workforce pressures in addition to the
NHS Long term workforce strategy, and also committed to an independent oral health review of the North East & North Cumbria area with a view to the findings becoming available by October 2023.
The steps outlined above will help to inform the ICB's future commissioning of NHS dental services. There are no plans to require ICBs to submit proposals on their commissioning of NHS dental services.
In July 2022, we announced a package of dental system improvements which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care across all regions in England. We know more needs to be done and we continue to work with the sector and NHS England to consider further changes which will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take, if any, to increase access to NHS dental services in County Durham.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Northeast and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) is proactively issuing regular communications updates to patients and local stakeholders regarding the pressures facing National Health Service dentistry locally, whilst seeking to build resilience through local initiatives that seek to improve access to unscheduled urgent dental care for those in greatest clinical need.
Since taking on NHS Primary Care regulatory dental commissioning responsibility from NHS England on 1 April 2023, the Northeast and North Cumbria ICB have agreed to the establishment of a Local Dental Crisis Task and Finish Group to explore further ways in which the ICB could seek to address NHS dental access and workforce pressures in addition to the
NHS Long term workforce strategy, and also committed to an independent oral health review of the North East & North Cumbria area with a view to the findings becoming available by October 2023.
The steps outlined above will help to inform the ICB's future commissioning of NHS dental services. There are no plans to require ICBs to submit proposals on their commissioning of NHS dental services.
In July 2022, we announced a package of dental system improvements which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care across all regions in England. We know more needs to be done and we continue to work with the sector and NHS England to consider further changes which will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure an adequate number of dental appointments is available for NHS patients.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In July 2022, we announced a package of improvements to the National Health Service dental system, detailed in ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care. The changes we have implemented include a contractual requirement for NHS dentists to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date to make it easier for patients to seek treatment, improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work and greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver NHS treatment, while enabling full use of the dental team.
NHS England have published additional guidance for dentists and commissioners as part of this package. Patients who are struggling to find a local dentist can contact NHS England’s Customer Contact Centre for assistance or contact NHS 111 if seeking urgent care.
NHS England, regional teams and integrated care boards across England are also working together to ensure that patients continue to have access to NHS dental care. We know that we need to do more, and we are working with NHS England and stakeholders to consider additional reforms of the NHS dental system coming shortly this year.
We are also committed to publishing a long-term NHS workforce plan that will set out the actions and reforms that are required to reduce supply gaps and improve retention, including in dentistry.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that all children have access to dental health education before 31 December 2023.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population, including for children, was delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.
Our plan for further reform of the NHS dental system is expected to be announced shortly to build on our reforms announced in July 2022. The plan will include how we can improve oral health outcomes for both adults and children for the longer term; how to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how to incentivise dental practices to deliver more NHS care.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is leading a wide-ranging multi-agency programme focussing on improving children’s oral health. This sits alongside local authorities existing responsibilities for bringing forward oral health-based interventions for the general population, as needed in their local areas.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish his plan for NHS Dentistry.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Our plan for National Health Service dentistry will be published shortly to build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022 and make more progress to support and recover NHS dentistry. The plan will include addressing how we continue to improve access particularly for new patients, how we can incentivise dental practices to deliver more NHS care and how we can improve oral health outcomes for adults and children for the longer term.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to enable full flexible commissioning of dental services by Integrated Care Boards; and what the evidential basis is for his Department's policy in this area.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
From 1 April 2023 the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. The dental regulatory framework is laid out in the General Dental Service contract and Personal Dental Service agreement regulations. The GDS contract and PDS agreement use definitions of Mandatory and Additional services.
Commissioners may take advantage of the opportunities offered through Additional Services and Further Services commissioning, previously flexible commissioning, to tailor services to meet local population oral health needs. These are discrete activities which are contractually and legally differentiated from mandatory services.
Although we have no current plans for a review of flexible commissioning, NHS England is continuing to monitor the use of the arrangements at the local level.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of NHS dentistry appointments that were available in (a) Towcester, (b) Brackley, and (c) South Northamptonshire constituency in each year between 2018 and 2022.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The requested data is not available. In July 2022, we announced a package of improvements to the National Health Service dental system, detailed in ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care across England. The changes we have implemented include ensuring dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, and greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver more NHS treatment, while enabling full use of the dental team.
These changes came into effect towards the end of 2022. However, we know that we need to do more and continue to build on these reforms. We will be announcing our plan for further reform of the NHS dental system later this year.
NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place later in 2023.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of NHS dentistry services in (a) Towcester, (b) Brackley and (c) South Northamptonshire constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The requested data is not available. In July 2022, we announced a package of improvements to the National Health Service dental system, detailed in ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care across England. The changes we have implemented include ensuring dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, and greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver more NHS treatment, while enabling full use of the dental team.
These changes came into effect towards the end of 2022. However, we know that we need to do more and continue to build on these reforms. We will be announcing our plan for further reform of the NHS dental system later this year.
NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place later in 2023.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to improve dentistry services in (a) South Northamptonshire constituency and (b) Northamptonshire.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The requested data is not available. In July 2022, we announced a package of improvements to the National Health Service dental system, detailed in ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care across England. The changes we have implemented include ensuring dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, and greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver more NHS treatment, while enabling full use of the dental team.
These changes came into effect towards the end of 2022. However, we know that we need to do more and continue to build on these reforms. We will be announcing our plan for further reform of the NHS dental system later this year.
NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place later in 2023.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 help tackle regional shortfalls in the provision of NHS dental care.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In July 2022, we announced a package of improvements to the National Health Service dental system, detailed in ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health need and increase access to dental care across all regions in England. These changes came into effect towards the end of 2022.
However, we know that we need to do more and continue to build on these reforms. We will announce our plan for further reform of the NHS dental system later this year, and it will include several areas requiring further action to support and recover activity in NHS dentistry, such as how to incentivise NHS dentists to deliver more NHS care.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. NHS England has published an Assurance Framework which sets out its approach to providing assurance that commissioning functions are carried out safely and effectively by ICBs.