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21 Oct 2004 : Column 918W—continued
Consultants
Mr. Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the contracts awarded by his Department to consultants in each of the last five years, stating in each case (a) the name of the consulting company, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the purpose for which the contract was awarded; and if he will make a statement. [191733]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
The Department does not hold centrally a record of the information requested and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Dentistry
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the dental workforce review; and if he will make a statement. [186514]
Ms Rosie Winterton: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health made a written ministerial statement on the report of the primary care dental workforce review on 22 July 2004. The report is available in the Library and at http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicy AndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/ fs/en?CONTENT ID = 4086050&chk=C2Hjh P.
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he will take to ensure that all patients in West Oxfordshire have the choice of treatment by an NHS dentist. [191931]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We are undertaking the most far reaching reforms to national health service dentistry since the service began in 1948. By October 2005, we will have recruited the equivalent of 1,000 additional dentists to the NHS, funded 170 additional training places for dental undergraduates and introduced new contractual arrangements which will delegate to primary care trusts (PCTs) responsibility for contracting with general dental practitioners for their local population's oral health needs. We are investing an extra £368 million in dentistry to fund these reforms.
In anticipation of the contractual changes, PCTs in West Oxfordshire are already working with dental practices to discuss how they can maintain and improve current service levels. I understand they are also exploring the provision of a new practice in west Oxfordshire, although no final decision has yet been made.
Mr. Etherington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dental practices operated in Sunderland in each year since 1999; what percentage of Sunderland (a) adults and (b) children were registered with NHS dental practices in each year, and how many community and school dental services sessions were held in the city in each year. [192274]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
Figures for the number of general dental service (GDS) practices and the proportion of adults and children registered with a GDS dentist are shown in table 1 for Sunderland Health Authority (HA) for 1999 to 2002 and Sunderland primary care trust (PCT) for 2003 and 2004. Table 2 shows the number of patients screened by community and school dental services in Sunderland HA for years 1999–2000 to 2001–02 and for City Hospitals Sunderland for the year 2002–03. Data for community and school dental service screenings for the year 2003–04 are not yet available.
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| Number of GDS practices (August) | Adult registrations as a percentage of adult population (September) | Child registrations as a percentage of child population (September) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 35 | 46.6 | 63.7 |
| 2000 | 35 | 47.3 | 63.9 |
| 2001 | 36 | 48.6 | 63.7 |
| 2002 | 36 | 49.5 | 63.0 |
| 2003 | 36 | 51.4 | 65.6 |
| 2004 (August) | 36 | 51.7 | 65.3 |
| Number screened | Dental services | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 24,495 | Sunderland HA |
| 2000–01 | 15,021 | Sunderland HA |
| 2001–02 | 16,399 | Sunderland HA |
| 2002–03 | 24,890 | City Hospitals Sunderland |
Source:
Department of Health dental statistics.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that additional funds for primary care dentistry will be channelled towards dentists who have continued to maintain NHS care provision in preference to those who have reduced their commitment to the NHS. [189833]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The base contract values under our proposed new contractual arrangements will be based on the dentists' previous national health service earnings, which will directly relate to the amount of NHS work they provided. Primary care trusts will monitor the NHS dental service provision by dentists to ensure that they maintain their NHS commitment.
We also intend that some funding should be available to dentists in mixed practices who wish to increase their NHS commitment because they prefer the new contractual and remuneration system to the present arrangements.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of the additional dentists to be working in the primary dental services by 2011 as anticipated in the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review; [189834]
(2) what estimate he has made of expenditure on dental nurses to assist the additional dentists needed by 2011 in the primary dental services sector, as anticipated in the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review; [189836]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost of additional (a) dental equipment and (b) surgeries required to support the projected increase in NHS dentists; and what mechanisms will be used to ensure that such resources will be allocated to those areas in greatest need. [189837]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Our expansion of the dental workforce is already underway with the recruitment of 1,000 additional dentists to the national health service by October 2005. In addition, by 2011, the first cohort of students to fill the additional 170 training places for dental undergraduates, that we are funding from October 2005, will be entering the workforce. We estimate that the cost to the NHS, net of the income contributed through patients' charges, but including
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remuneration for premises, equipment and ancillary staff, would be £130 million at current prices. In 2005–06 we are allocating an extra £250 million to NHS dentistry, an increase of 19.3 per cent., compared to spending in 2003–04.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to Government departments of providing training places for the additional dentists anticipated in the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review. [189835]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In our announcement of 16 July, we undertook to fund 170 extra undergraduate training places in England from October 2005. By 2010–11, there will be an additional 850 dental students undergoing training. We estimate that the total cost to the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department of their academic and clinical training will have risen to some £40 million recurring, supported by total capital investment of £95 million over the period 2005–06 to 2009–10.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what account was taken in the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review, when estimating the number of additional dentists required by 2011, of the views of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on appropriate dental recall intervals. [189838]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The model on which the review was based was constructed in 2002, before the National Institute for Clinical Excellence had published draft guidance proposing that the recommended interval between oral health reviews should be determined specifically for each patient based on disease levels and risk of dental disease. This contrasts with current practice of recalling patients at six monthly intervals. We took account of the implications of the draft guidance for the workload of dentists in announcing plans to recruit the equivalent of 1,000 additional dentists and will be checking our progress next year.
Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps will be taken to ensure that dentists to be recruited from (a) Poland, (b) Spain and (c) India by primary care trusts are retained in the NHS. [189839]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Many of these dentists will be recruited to posts within the personal dental services where a national health service commitment is specified. More generally, the changes we are making to dentists' contractual and remuneration arrangements are intended to make NHS dentistry more attractive to dentists.
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dental registrations he expects to be available within two years in (a) Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Care Trust area and (b) East Lancashire. [192163]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The Department does not make forecasts of National Health Service dental registration figures.
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A new dental contract is due for introduction in October 2005. Under this, patients may access NHS dentistry without being registered. Registrations lapse if the patient does not attend the dentist within the last 15 months.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the population of (a) Somerset, (b) South Somerset and (c) Yeovil constituency was registered with an NHS dentist in each year from 1988–89 to 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [192131]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not available for the time frame specified. The following tables show the estimated proportions of adults and children registered with a general dental service (GDS) dentist from 1993 to 2002 for Somerset health authority (HA) area and for 2003 and 2004 for the four primary care trusts (PCTs) in Somerset.
| At September each year | Proportion of adults registered | Proportion of children registered |
|---|---|---|
| 1993(28) | 66.9 | 73.6 |
| 1994(28) | 65.2 | 72.7 |
| 1995(28) | 59.2 | 70.7 |
| 1996(28) | 55.6 | 71.4 |
| 1997(28) | 56.1 | 73.5 |
| 1998 | 49.1 | 69.5 |
| 1999 | 46.3 | 67.3 |
| 2000 | 48.6 | 69.8 |
| 2001 | 46.4 | 67.7 |
| 2002 | 48.1 | 66.4 |
(28) Population figures used to calculate the rates are for September 1998. The registration rates for September 1997 and earlier are on a different basis from the later figures because of changes in the registration period—adult period fell from 24 months to 15 months.
| 2003 (August) | 2004 (August) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCTs | Adults | Children | Adults | Children |
| Mendip | 34.9 | 60.3 | 37.3 | 62.1 |
| Taunton Deane | 62.8 | 80.3 | 55.7 | 73.5 |
| Somerset Coast | 44.3 | 59.7 | 39.7 | 53.8 |
| South Somerset | 54.3 | 74.2 | 51.7 | 74.5 |
Patients may access national health service dental services without being registered, for example in the personal dental service.
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