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5 Jun 2006 : Column 356W—continued
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been allocated to dental access centres in England since 2000-01; and what the projected funding is to 2009-10. [70341]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Dental access centres (DACs) are managed by primary care trusts (PCTs). There are not separate expenditure lines for DACs within PCT accounts and there has been no single funding stream. DACs have instead been funded through a variety of mechanisms as part of the non-discretionary general dental services and PCT-led personal dental service pilots. A separate breakdown of DAC expenditure and allocations would be available only at disproportionate cost.
For this and future years, PCTs will receive allocations, totalling around £1.7 billion for 2006-07, which include funding for the primary care dentistry they commission, including DACs. There is no funding stream or allocation specifically for DACs as it is now up to PCTs how they provide for the dental needs of their population.
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much will be allocated to the North West strategic health authority for dentistry in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08 and (c) 2008-09. [70342]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The main element of national health service dental services is the primary dental care services provided by dentists working within the general dental service, or personal dental service. From 1 April 2006 all primary dental care services are managed locally, and the Department has allocated the sums shown in the table to primary care trusts (PCTs) in the area of the proposed North West strategic health authority (SHA) to support primary dental care in 2006-07. As well as the net primary dental service resource allocations awarded to PCTs, the table indicates the gross budget and associated patient charge income that might be expected to be available to each PCT.
Net primary dental service allocations for 2007-08 and 2008-09 will be announced later.
PCTs decide locally what proportion of their general NHS resource allocation should be awarded to hospital and community dental services, or whether any additional funding should be directed to primary dental care services.
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in Suffolk have (a) been offered, (b) not yet accepted and (c) declined the new NHS contract. [69816]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the number of dentists who have signed the new contract is not available centrally. We do however have some provisional information that covers contracts. A contract may be for more that one dentist so cannot be broken down further to individual dentist level.
The following table shows the number of new dental contracts signed and rejected in the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority area.
| Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA | |
|
Nation Health Service service levels (compared with rejected contracts) (percentage) | |
| Source: Department of Health | |
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made of the level of access to NHS dentistry in Wellingborough. [71056]
Ms Rosie Winterton: It is estimated that 61 per cent. of children and 47 per cent. of adults in the Northamptonshire Heartlands primary care trust area are registered with a national health service dentist. At 31 March 2006, 79,010 patients had been seen by a dentist in the last 15 months.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether there are plans to issue further licences to companies to manufacture and supply dental anaesthetic; [71101]
(2) how much dental anaesthetic was imported in each of the last five years for which figures are available; [71107]
(3) what solutions have been considered to the dental anaesthetic shortage to ensure that service to patients is not disrupted; [71109]
(4) what has caused the shortage of the dental anaesthetic supplied by (a) Dentsply and (b) Deproco. [71111]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Any company wishing to market dental local anaesthetics in the United Kingdom must first obtain marketing authorisations from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). These are granted only if the products meet the required standards of quality, safety and efficacy, and the MHRA cannot predict whether a marketing authorisation will be granted until assessment of all relevant data is complete. Information on current applications is confidential. The MHRA have been kept aware of the recent supply difficulties.
Information on the amount of dental anaesthetic imported is not held centrally.
Dentsply experienced problems at its manufacturing site in the United States of America, and has had to identify an alternative production facility. There is no reported shortage of dental local anaesthetic from Deproco, which has increased its production to cover the predicted shortfall left by the temporary absence of Dentsply. Dentsply is doing everything possible to return to the market as soon as possible.
The Department’s chief dental officer wrote to all dentists in England to inform them of the current supply situation, advising them not to stockpile local anaesthetic. A statement was published on 20 April which is available on the Department’s website at: www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/13/39/80/04133980.pdf
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many routine dental operations have been cancelled due to the current shortage of dental anaesthetic. [71108]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not received reports of any dental operations cancelled because of a shortage of anaesthetic.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to require primary care trusts to find out which dentists in their area are taking on NHS patients, report the information to her Department on a regular basis, and make the information readily available to the public, including a local search facility under the dentists' link of the www.nhs.uk website. [71410]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The nhs.uk website is set up to allow users to search for the dentists providing national health service services which are located nearest to the patient's home post code. Wider local searches are also available to find all dentists providing NHS services within a particular primary care trust (PCT) area.
It is for PCTs to decide how most effectively to provide information to the local public about which dentists are currently accepting new patients and to agree local arrangements with NHS Direct and nhs.uk.
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