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10 Mar 2006 : Column 1813W—continued
Community Hospitals
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the compliance of primary care trusts to paragraphs 6.42 and 6.43 in the Health White Paper, "Our Health, Our Say". [54267]
Mr. Byrne: It is the responsibility of strategic health authorities (SHAs) to ensure that primary care trusts (PCTs) comply with the commitment, relating to community hospitals, made in paragraphs 6.42 and 6.43 of the Health White Paper, "Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: a new direction for Community services". The Department wrote to SHAs on 16 February outlining how SHAs should test PCT community hospital proposals against the principles in the White Paper. A copy of this letter is available in the Library.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many minor injuries units there have been in community hospitals in England in each of the last 10 years; and if she will make a statement. [55966]
Mr. Byrne: Data are not collected centrally in the format requested.
Community Pharmacies (Peterborough)
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many community pharmacies in Peterborough constituency have (a) opened and (b) closed since 1997. [54819]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the number of community pharmacies by constituency is not centrally collected. However, information prior to 2002 is available by health authority (HA), and from 2002, by primary care trust (PCT).
The Peterborough constituency is currently served by North Peterborough PCT. It previously sat within Cambridge and Huntingdon HA from 1997 to 1999 and Cambridgeshire HA from 1999 to 2002.
Table one shows the number of community pharmacies by Cambridge and Huntingdon prior to 1997–99.
Table two shows the number of community pharmacies by Cambridgeshire HA 1999–2002.
Table three shows the number of community pharmacies by North Peterborough PCT from 2002 onwards.
10 Mar 2006 : Column 1814W
| 1997–98 | 1998–99 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total number of pharmacies in Cambridge and Huntingdon HA | 63 | 64 |
| Opened | 0 | 1 |
| Closed | 0 | 0 |
| 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of pharmacies in Cambridgeshire HA | 111 | 108 | 110 |
| Opened | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Closed | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of pharmacies in North Peterborough PCT | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| Opened | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Closed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Dentistry
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South of 14 December 2005, Official Report, column 2134W, on dentistry, whether there is a minimum level of dental services that a primary care trust must commission. [43526]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Primary care trusts will continue to have a duty under section 16CA(1) of the National Health Service Act 1977 to provide primary dental services to the extent considered necessary to meet all reasonable requirements in their area.
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made with the registration and education of denturists and clinical dental technicians. [54038]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Progress on registration is dependent upon the introduction of a training programme that will meet the General Dental Council's educational requirements. We understand that some training institutions are interested in running this programme and we are encouraging the profession to estimate the likely demand in order that this information can be made available to the interested institutions and strategic health authorities, which are responsible for commissioning training for health care professionals.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received from (a) denturists and (b) patients of denturists regarding the reforms introduced by the Dentists Act (Amendment) Order 2005; and what the content of these representations was. [54077]
10 Mar 2006 : Column 1815W
Ms Rosie Winterton: At its meeting on 7 December 2005, the General Dental Council (GDC) agreed that appropriately qualified clinical dental technicians, who are also known as denturists, should be registered and allowed to see edentulous patients, without prior review by a dentist, for the purpose of supplying and maintaining complete dentures.
This measure, which was enabled by amendments to the Dentists Act 1984 made as part of the Government's policy on better regulation, has been welcomed. We have, however, received representations from dental technicians, who wish to become denturists, and also from some of their patients about the recognition, for the purposes of registration, of past experience and qualifications obtained overseas. These matters are the responsibility of the GDC.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) salaried general dental practitioners and (b) community dental services dentists work in dental access centres; and what guidance she has issued to primary care trusts on recruitment policies for dentists to this sector of dental provision. [55893]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 6 March 2006]: As at 31 December 2005, there were 132 salaried general dental practitioners in England, and as at 30 September 2004, there were 1,573 dentists working in the community dental services in England. Information on how many of these dentists worked in dental access centres is not held centrally.
From 1 April, primary care trusts will be responsible for commissioning primary care dental services to meet the needs of their local populations. The Department has undertaken a wide-ranging review and consultation on modernising salaried primary dental care services. We intend to announce shortly how we propose to support the national health service in taking forward the main outcomes of the review and consultation.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of the proposed changes to the NHS dental contract on the level of NHS funding dentists will receive. [54785]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The new general dental services and personal dental services arrangements consist of contracts for a defined level of service between the dentist, a dental partnership or a provider of dental services and the commissioning primary care trust. Dentists will have a guaranteed annual contract sum, based on their national health service earnings during a recent test period, and paid in 12 monthly instalments.
A committed NHS dentist currently earns on average around £80,000 per year, after practice expenses are taken into account, and can expect to earn at least this amount on average in 2006–07 with an uplift to 2006–07 prices.
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) children and (b) adults are registered with an NHS dentist in (i) Kingston and Surbiton, (ii) South West London and (iii) London. [55840]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not collected in the format requested. However, the table which shows the number of children and adults registered with a National Health Service dentist in Kingston Primary Care Trust (PCT), South West London Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and London Government Office Region as at 31 December 2005.
| Adults | Children | |
|---|---|---|
| London Region | 2,278,480 | 857,106 |
| South West London SHA | 357,285 | 151,331 |
| Of which: | ||
| Kingston PCT | 35,158 | 19,336 |
Notes:
PDS schemes have varying registration periods. To ensure comparability with corresponding GDS data, PDS registrations are estimated using proxy registrations, namely the number of patients seen by PDS practices in the past 15 months.
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance her Department has issued on the new NHS dentistry contracts. [55843]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has provided a series of guidance documents to assist dentists and the national health service in preparing for the implementation of the new local commissioning arrangements from April 2006.
In August 2005, the Department published a guide to accompany the draft contract regulations when they were published for comment. In October 2005, the Department sent guidance to strategic health authority and primary care trust chief executives on implementing the new contractual arrangements and the wider dental reforms. In December 2005, the Department published the model general dental services contract.
The Department has also published a series on a number of aspects of the dental reforms. These are available on the Department's website at: www.dh. gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicy AndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID= 4124337&chk=beZed2
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are in (a) Kingston and Surbiton, (b) South West London and (c) London; and how many in each area are (i) accepting new patients, (ii) only accepting children as new patients and (iii) only accepting adults as new patients. [55847]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Data regarding the number of dentists admitting new national health service patients are not available centrally. Individual primary care trusts (PCTs) should be able to provide this information for their local areas. The numbers of NHS dentists with a general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract as at 31 December 2005 in the relevant areas are shown in the following table.
10 Mar 2006 : Column 1817W
Source:
Dental Practice Board
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure that more NHS dentists operate in Shrewsbury and Atcham constituency. [55946]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 27 February 2006, Official Report, column 427W.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the availability of NHS dentists in Hampshire. [56521]
Ms Rosie Winterton: £492,000 (revenue) was allocated to Hampshire and Isle of Wight for dental access for 2005–06. It is the responsibility of local Health service organisations to determine how best to use their resources to meet the needs of their local community.
Dental action plans have been developed for those areas in Hampshire and Isle of Wight that have been deemed most challenged, and contingent additional funding (circa £3 million) has been allocated to maintain or procure additional capacity.
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight achieved a total of 20.04 new dentists by the end of September 2005, thereby exceeding its target by nine whole time equivalent general dental practitioners, equating to 18,000 patient registrations.
All Hampshire and Isle of Wight Primary Care Trusts have arrangements in place to ensure that people in urgent need of dental treatment can be offered an appointment, usually the same day.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there were in each (a) local authority area and (b) primary care trust in Hampshire in (i) 1997, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 2005. [56522]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The tables show the numbers of general dental services (GDS) and personal dental services (PDS) dentists in the specified primary care trusts or local authority areas as at 30 September in each of the requested years.
10 Mar 2006 : Column 1818W
Notes:
1. Data includes all notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS, received by the Dental Practice Board, up to 19 October 2005. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending upon the notification period, for example, data with a later notification period will include more recent notifications of dentists joining or leaving the GDS or PDS.
2. The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. Primary care trust (PCT) and local authority (LA) areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics all fields postcode directory.
3. An individual dentist may have a contract with more than one PCT or LA area, in which case they will appear in figures for each PCT and LA area with which they hold a contract.
Source:
Dental Practice Board
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