Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Conclusion 11
Ninth Report - NHS dentistry
Published 14 Jul 2023
Paragraph 67
Addressed to Department of Health and Social Care
Health and Social Care Committee NHS dentistry All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Government states that the number of NHS dentists has increased over the past year. However, while the headcount has gone up over the past year, it has gone down over the past three years, and moreover headcount alone does not reflect how much NHS work these dentists are undertaking. We heard repeatedly that a lack of dentists and dental care professionals undertaking NHS work is the main driver behind both lack of access to appointments for patients, and the underspend in primary care dentistry.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Ninth Report - NHS dentistry (HC 964), paragraph 67, 14 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 December 2023 (deadline 14 September 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "accepts the majority" of the Committee's recommendations, rejects the proposal to reinstate patient registration "at this time", and says a Dentistry Recovery Plan "will be published shortly".
- It accepts the recommendation on a public information campaign, noting NHS England is working on "a suite of public facing documents" and that practices must now update their NHS website profile every quarter.
- On the dental contract it "partially accepts" the call for reform, stating that "there is no one perfect payment model", and says it is "working on further reforms to the 2006 contract, in discussion with the profession".
- It "rejects" reinstating patient registration "at this time" and has "no current plans to introduce registration", saying the current model allows "greater choice and flexibility for patients".
- On the ringfence for NHS dentistry funding, it accepts the recommendation but says it is "currently considering arrangements for 2024/25", and notes that in November NHS England confirmed ICBs could retain any underspend.