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4 Jul 2005 : Column 208W—continued
Dentistry
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in Hertfordshire have applied for personal dentist service contracts; and if she will make a statement. [7487]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected by dentist but by dental practice. The number of dental practices that have applied for personal dental service contracts in Hertfordshire is 18, across the eight Hertfordshire primary care trusts.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists undertaking NHS work there are in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley South Ribble primary care trust; and if she will list the practices which are taking new patients. [7661]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information relating to the numbers of dentists undertaking national health service dental work across Lancashire is shown in the table.
Note:
The figures given by PCT and SHA include all dentists practicing in that area. Some dentists have an open GDS or PDS contract in more than one PCT or SHA and will, therefore, appear in the figures for each PCT where they practice.
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Local PCTs and NHS Direct are able to provide information about dental practices that are currently taking on new NHS patients.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the Dental Practice Board calculates the notional patient lists for personal dental services applicants. [9659]
Ms Rosie Winterton: At the start of a personal dental service (PDS) arrangement the primary care trust (PCT) negotiates a patient list with the dental practice. The PCT then instruct the Dental Practice Board (DPB) to transfer the patient list from either an existing general dental service or PDS contract. The patient list is then amended from records supplied to the DPB by the dental surgery working in PDS.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to increase the number of NHS dentists in Portsmouth. [5976]
Ms Rosie Winterton: In 2004–05, Portsmouth City Primary Care Trust (PCT) received an allocation of £120,000 in dental access funding. Of this allocation, £60,000 was to support the development of personal dental service (PDS) agreements and provide an increase of up to 6,000 additional patient registrations. £23,400 was used to increase provision for unregistered patients needing urgent dental care.
I am advised that Portsmouth City PCT has locally recruited three new dentists from overseas. The PCT is in negotiation with a number of practices, who wish to change to PDS and initial discussions have taken place with a view to a new surgery opening in Portsmouth.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of providing NHS dentistry in Portsmouth was in each of the last five years; how the money was allocated; and if she will make a statement. [6006]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Primary care provided by independent general dental practitioners (GDPs) forms the major element of national health service dental services. Most GDPs operate within the national terms of the general dental service (GDS), although some have opted to provide similar patient services under local contracts agreed with their primary care trust (PCT) as part of the recently introduced personal dental service
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(PDS). Under the GDS, the main costs are the individual treatment fees, including patient registration payments, payable to dentists. Under the PDS, dentists are usually paid a regular contract value for a defined level of NHS commitment. The gross cost of GDS fees and PDS contract payments in the area of the Portsmouth City PCT are shown in the table.
The GDS is currently funded from a national non discretionary budget; local budgets are not allocated to specific areas, but payments are made purely in response to the treatment and service claims submitted by individual GDPs.
Expenditure on community and hospital dental services is determined by the relevant local NHS body and expenditure on services in the Portsmouth area alone is not identifiable from data available centrally.
Notes:
1.Gross GDS fees include all adult and child treatment fees, continuing care and capitation payments, and commitment payments. Certain allowances and costs, such as reimbursement of business rates, seniority payments, and employers' superannuation contributions, are excluded.
2.All costs are shown gross of any income contributed by dental charges payable by patients.
3.Figures extracted from payment data held by the Dental Practice Board.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provisions she has made for dentistry in Shrewsbury. [6113]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Shropshire County Primary Care Trust (PCT) received £256,000 to improve access to dentistry.
The PCT has developed a dental action plan, which was approved by the Department's dental support team in June 2004. Funding of a further £695,000 was also allocated to support the plan's implementation. The aim of the action plan was to deliver the capacity to provide national health service dental care for at least 50,000 more patients. Services are now in place to deliver care for almost 40,000 patients and other developments are in progress. For example, a primary care centre in Market Drayton will expand to include two dental surgeries in October 2005.
In the PCT area, four practices have opened recently, two of which are in Shrewsbury. The two practices have a combined capacity for around 15,000 NHS patients. Of four existing practices in the PCT area that have expanded, one is in Shrewsbury and it will provide capacity for an additional 3,000 NHS patients.
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There has been a dental access centre in Shrewsbury since 1999. This was in the first wave of personal dental service pilots.
Five Polish dentists were recruited as part of the first wave of overseas recruitment for Shropshire, two of whom are based in Shrewsbury.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the contractual arrangements are for those dentists who are seeking to expand the numbers of NHS patients on their list by recruiting additional dentists to their practice, including from abroad. [6356]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The contractual arrangements for a dental practice recruiting additional dentists to expand the numbers of national health service patients vary according to whether the practice is operating under general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services pilot (PDS) arrangements.
Under GDS, a dentist or dental practice, which chooses to offer NHS services, register their participation with their local primary care trust and the Dental Practice Board and make claims for reimbursement for items of service performed in line with the statement of dental remuneration. If they choose to recruit an additional dentist to expand the numbers of NHS patients, the extra items of service performed for these patients would be
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included in the reimbursement claims made. As self-employed contractors, dentists are free to vary the extent of their NHS work as and when they choose.
Under PDS, a dentist or dental practice who wishes to recruit an additional dentist to expand the numbers of NHS patients applies to their local PCT for a contract to cover the expanded NHS commitment. Local negotiations between the dental practice and PCT take place and when the proposed contract is agreed, it is referred to the national PDS team at the Department for approval under delegated powers from the Secretary of State.
The criteria for approving PDS contractual arrangements are designed to encourage growth in NHS services. Once approved, the dental practice and PCT sign a contract, which specifies the nature and extent of the NHS commitment, usually in terms of a practice list, the contract value and agreed arrangements for variations to the contract conditions.
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many students there were (a) at the Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School and (b) the Newcastle upon Tyne Dental School in each of the last five years; and what plans there are to increase the numbers of students. [6319]
Bill Rammell: I have been asked to reply.
The available information is given in the table.
(88)Figures are rounded to the nearest 5 hence constituent parts may not sum to the totals.
(89)Figures for 2001–02 onwards include students on stage 1 of the Medicine and Surgery programme who are based at the University of Durham's, Queens Campus in Stockton.
(90)Figures are on a snapshot basis as at the 1 December.
(91)Figures are on a DfES whole year count basis which are not consistent with snapshot figures given for earlier years. The whole year count counts students at the end of the academic year and provides a more accurate representation of student numbers. Whole year count figures are not available for years before 2000–01.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student record
The Department of Health and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will be considering the potential for further expansion of medical student numbers, and the expansion of dental education, through the separate forums of the Medical and Dental Joint Implementation Groups.
We are funding the biggest expansion of dental education since the inception of the NHS involving the creation of an additional 170 training places in dental schools. To support the clinical training costs of this 25 per cent. increase in capacity, the Department of Health has allocated revenue funds growing to £29 million recurring by 2010–11; and £20 million capital in each of the four years 2005–06 to 2008–09.
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