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17 May 2004 : Column 793W—continued

Dentistry

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) why the appropriation aid provision in the Estimates attributable to dental charges is reduced in 2004–05 to £229,550,000 from £491,000,000 in 2003–04; [168945]

(2) why the provision in the Estimates for general dental services in 2004–05 is £245 million less than the provision in 2003–04. [168947]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 27 April 2004]: The Government are committed to rebuilding and restoring national health service dentistry to improve the oral health of the nation. Overall expenditure on dental services, covering both general dental services (CDS) and personal dental services (PDS) and the associated income from dental charges, is expected to rise in 2004–05. However, in drawing up the estimate for this early stage in the year, provision for primary dental services has been split initially between section D (GDS) of the estimate and section A (aggregate provision for strategic health authority and primary care trust budgets and central allocations). This is because an
 
17 May 2004 : Column 794W
 
increasing number of dental practices are converting from general dental practice contracts to PDS contracts. PDS contracts are funded from discretionary allocations delegated to PCTs, whereas GDS are funded from a national, non-discretionary budget.

The balance of provision between the two sections of the estimate, and the associated charge income, will be adjusted at a supplementary estimate stage when the level of conversion from the GDS to the PDS over the coming 12 months is known. As a non-discretionary service, provision for the GDS will be adjusted to reflect the volume of dentistry delivered by general dental practitioners.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls to NHS Direct about access to an NHS dentists there were in each month since November 2001, broken down by (a) emergency, (b) urgent, (c) routine and (d) other calls for (i) England and (ii) each strategic health authority. [166118]

Mr. Hutton: Calls to NHS Direct about access to a National Health Service dentist in each month since November 2001 by emergency, urgent, routine and other are shown in the table.

This information is not collated centrally for each strategic health authority.
Number

	Total	Emergency	Urgent	Routine	Not known
November 2001	10,922	1,143	2,542	6,546	691
December 2001	10,023	1,456	3,274	4,482	811
January 2002	13,064	1,605	3,078	7,124	1,257
February 2002	10,316	1,073	2,902	5,535	806
March 2002	13,336	1,061	3,849	6,742	1,684
April 2002	15,472	1,666	4,241	8,322	1,243
May 2002	15,693	1,506	4,287	8,361	1,539
June 2002	14,726	1,551	4,598	7,145	1,432
July 2002	16,032	1,539	4,164	8,827	1,502
August 2002	15,797	1,584	4,646	8,303	1,264
September 2002	14,862	1,387	3,886	8,229	1,360
October 2002	15,912	1,409	3,457	9,671	1,375
November 2002	15,770	1,456	3,381	9,505	1,428
December 2002	14,629	1,729	4,308	7,149	1,443
January 2003	17,860	1,614	3,648	10,952	1,646
February 2003	13,576	1,220	3,075	7,968	1,313
March 2003	15,325	1,416	3,407	9,093	1,409
April 2003	15,863	1,399	3,510	9,446	1,508
May 2003	16,257	1,471	3,977	9,307	1,502
June 2003	17,404	1,563	3,823	10,485	1,533
July 2003	19,012	1,581	4,192	10,723	2,516
August 2003	18,016	1,806	4,201	10,471	1,538
September 2003	19,472	1,708	4,117	11,350	2,297
October 2003	19,829	1,529	3,733	10,905	3,662
January 2004	19,702	1,462	3,613	12,726	1,901
February 2004	18,258	1,575	3,653	11,312	1,718

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) dental practices and (b) dentists in Hampshire provide NHS treatment; how many hours of NHS dentistry they offer each (i) week and (ii) month; and if he will make a statement on the availability of NHS dental treatment in Hampshire. [168096]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The latest available information for Hampshire shows that there were 288 dental practices and 635 dentists providing national health service dental services in the general dental services or personal dental services.
 
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In the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority there were 62 dentists working full or part-time in the Community Dental Service area (a whole time equivalent of 42) and, in the hospital dental service, there were 57 dentists (48 whole-time equivalent). Information on the number of practices is not available.

Information is not available on the number of hours worked as general dental practitioners are independent contractors who are able to vary the amount of NHS dentistry they do and to vary their working week.

We are currently taking forward major reforms of NHS dentistry through proposals in the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. Under these proposals, primary care trusts (PCT) will have a duty to secure the provision of primary dental services. With these new responsibilities will go the £1.3 billion financial resources (2003–04) currently held centrally. The reforms will give a better deal for patients, for dentists and for the NHS.

In the run up to the changes, we have provided new investment totalling £90 million to improve NHS dentistry. £59 million will support access, and strategic health authorities have been advised of their shares and are working with their PCTs to address access issues. £30 million is to support information technology and the balance of £1 million will support organisational development locally.

The PCTs in Hampshire are working closely with their strategic health authority (Hampshire and Isle of   Wight) supported by the shadow special health authority (dentistry) to improve local dental access using their share of the access funds: some £1.64 million in 2004–05.

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists have left the NHS, in whole or in part, to work in the private sector in each year since 1997 in (a) Greater London and (b) each London borough. [168940]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the total number of dentists leaving the general dental service (GDS) or personal dental service (PDS) is given in the table for primary care trust (PCT) areas in London; information is not collected by borough. Information is not available on the reason for leaving.

Dentists can leave the national health service for a variety of reasons. These include retirements, short-term absence, leaving for other employment as well as dentists leaving the NHS dental services to practise wholly privately. Those working in the GDS can increase or reduce their NHS commitment, and this is not reflected in the figures.

Few dentists leave the NHS altogether to practise privately. The Office of Fair Trading report, "The private dentistry market in the UK", stated that only 210 practices are totally private in the United Kingdom out of 11,000 practices in total.

The number of NHS dentists in the Greater London area increased from 3,107 in September 1997 to 3,444 in September 2003.
 
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Table 1: Number of leavers from GDS and PDS

	Year ending 30 September
Primary Care Trust	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Barking and Dagenham	2	1	3	3	6	1
Barnet	12	13	6	13	10	11
Bexley Care Trust	2	6	6	6	7	5
Brent	7	10	4	7	11	11
Bromley	13	2	9	7	8	9
Camden	17	14	13	12	23	11
City and Hackney	9	5	9	6	9	4
Croydon	17	13	9	13	20	5
Ealing	10	13	32	7	21	1
Enfield	10	10	8	8	4	10
Greenwich	4	6	7	7	5	4
Hammersmith and Fulham	4	3	10	9	19	2
Haringey	8	3	11	13	9	8
Harrow	2	6	7	4	7	2
Havering	3	5	5	5	7	7
Hillingdon	6	9	5	9	11	8
Hounslow	6	3	14	13	14	2
Islington	7	7	12	9	12	14
Kensington and Chelsea	10	2	6	5	7	11
Kingston	1	4	7	8	7	2
Lambeth	12	21	8	14	14	5
Lewisham	3	13	9	9	16	5
Newham	5	5	5	9	6	6
Redbridge	5	5	7	9	13	9
Richmond and Twickenham	3	6	9	10	6	6
Southwark	4	10	6	13	6	6
Sutton and Merton	9	8	12	9	17	11
Tower Hamlets	4	6	5	4	7	5
Waltham Forest	7	2	2	5	5	6
Wandsworth	19	10	16	17	19	25
Westminster	13	26	12	24	21	19
Greater London PCTs	234	247	274	287	347	231

Note:
Information is not available on the number of dentists who have partially left the NHS. Dentists in the GDS and PDS are mainly self-employed and are free to vary the amount of NHS work that they do.

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the availability of NHS dentists in (a) Plympton, (b) Plymstock and (c) South West Devon; and if he will make a statement; [169397]

(2) what steps he intends to take to increase the number of NHS dentists in South West Devon. [169398]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 29 April 2004]: The number of dental undergraduates is increasing and we are seeking to attract new graduates into national health service dentistry, to bring back returners to practice and to recruit overseas dentists. At a local level, the whole of the South West Peninsula Strategic Health Authority area has been identified as an "Options for Change" field site and dentists are increasingly opting for the new ways of working that personal dental services allows. A total of 18 practices across the South West Peninsula, including two in Plymouth, have now adopted local contracts with their primary care trusts under "Options for Change".

Mr. Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the trend has been in the number of NHS dentistry patients in each year since 1997 in Morley and Rothwell. [169410]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested for Leeds Health Authority (HA) and South Leeds Primary Care Trust (PCT), which covers Morley and Rothwell, is shown in the tables.
 
17 May 2004 : Column 797W
 

General Dental Service: children and adult registration list sizes and registration rates at 30 September 1977 to 2001—Leeds HA

	Number of registrations			Registration rate (percentage)
	Adult	Child	Total	Adult	Child	Total
1997	304,406	111,899	416,305	55	68	58
1998	273,722	104,724	378,446	50	64	53
1999	269,879	104,494	374,373	49	64	52
2000	269,905	104,420	374,325	49	65	53
2001	266,807	101,479	368,286	48	63	52

General Dental Service: children and adult registration list sizes and registration rates at 30 September 2002 to 2003⁽³⁴⁾—South Leeds PCT

	Number of registrations			Registration rate (percentage)
	Adult	Child	Total	Adult	Child	Total
2002	56,298	21,626	77,924	51	61	53
2003	55,172	21,067	76,239	50	59	52

⁽³⁴⁾ Following transfer from HAs to PCTs in 2002, results were published for PCTs rather than HAs.
Notes:
1. Based on the number of registrations at 30 September each year.
2. Registration rates are based on a 15 month registration period. Following the change of registration rate from 24 months to 15 months September 1997 rates are affected.
3. Population data are ONS mid year census estimates.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 19 April 2004, Official Report, column 255W, on dentists, if he will estimate the impact of the recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence draft guidance on the patient charge revenue from dental examinations. [169720]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence's (NICE) consultation document on dental recall intervals does not constitute its formal guidance: the recommendations are preliminary and may change after the consultation. Dentists will be expected to follow the final advice, which NICE is expected to publish later this year. This may mean that patients with low risk of disease are seen less frequently than now.

We have also set up a working group under the   chairmanship of Harry Cayton, the Department's director for patients and the public, to recommend a new patient charge system. This group has now reported and we are considering its recommendations. We hope to publish the report in due course.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people failed to attend NHS dentist appointments in (a) 2003–04 and (b) each of the preceding five years in (i) Worthing and (ii) England. [170630]

Ms Rosie Winterton: No information is available on the number of people failing to attend national health service dental appointments. Details of missed appointments are held only by the dentists and are not collected centrally.

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