Recommendation 10

However, NHS England was unable to tell us how many more dentists it expected these reforms to produce, or by when they would appear. It told us that a sustainable solution required further engagement with the dental profession on the longer-term elements such as workforce and contract reform.29 NHS England wrote to us following our evidence session to provide more details. It assured us that it sees restoring NHS dentistry services as a critical priority. However, it also confirmed that even before the pandemic when dentists were delivering “around 90%” of contracted care, that equated to only around 50% of adults and 58% of children receiving any NHS dental care at all over the two-year period to December 2019.30 23 Qq 25–26 24 Q 12 25 C&AG’s Report, para 2.14 26 Q 12 27 Q 12 28 Q 15 29 Qq 16–17 30 Letter dated 26 November 2022 from Amanda Pritchard at NHS England to the Committee 12 Introducing Integrated Care Systems 2 Effective and sustainable ICSs Funding and accountability arrangements between the NHS and Local government