Recommendation 15

HM Government Accepted

Accept We accept the Committee’s recommendation to make best use of the skills held by the wider dental team and have already taken steps with NHSE to embed this approach within contract reform and to promote to dental practices. This will ensure that all staff are better utilising their knowledge and skills so that dentists’ time is more focussed on specialised clinical work, increasing job satisfaction for the team, and increasing the overall efficiency of dental practices. As part of our reforms announced in July 2022, NHS England published guidance for the profession and commissioners to address misunderstandings and remove administrative barriers in the submission of payment claims to facilitate dental therapists and hygienists to open courses of treatment. The guidance clarifies the regulatory position on dental therapists and dental hygienists providing direct access to patient care within NHS primary dental services. It is supported by case studies to illustrate how skill mix can work in practice. The Department also recently completed a consultation on changes to the Human Medicines Regulations to enable dental therapists and dental hygienists to supply and administer some medicines without the need for a prescription from a dentist. These include local anaesthetics, fluoride varnish and certain antibiotics. These changes could enable these dental care professionals to deliver more care for patients using skills already within their scope of practice, whilst also improving job satisfaction. The proposed change will support dental hygienists and dental therapists in providing the right care to patients without unnecessary delays and add capacity in dental care teams. We will respond to this consultation shortly.