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6 Dec 2006 : Column 544W—continued
With the introduction of the new contract on 1 April 2006 a new measure was introduced, “patients seen within the last 24 months”.
This measure has been used for the first time as a count of the number of distinct patient identities which have been processed during the last 24 months. Each identified patient is counted only once even if he or she has received several episodes of care or treatment over the measured period.
This measure is not directly comparable with the patient registrations data collected under the old contract as it was measured over a 15-month period rather than 24 months.
Patients have been identified by using surname, first initial, gender and date of birth. Each unique patient ID is normally assigned to the dental contract (and therefore PCT) against which the most recent claim for routine treatment was recorded in the 24-month period.
| Patient seen in the last 24 months in York and Selby PCT | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. The boundaries used are as at 30 September 2006. 2. Currently the Patients seen data is not available at adult/child split. 3. Selby and York PCT covers the York area. Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) | |
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are on a waiting list for a dentist in (a) Hemsworth constituency, (b) Yorkshire and (c) England. [106463]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not available centrally.
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average cost was of a visit to a dentist’s surgery in (a) 1997, (b) 2001 and (c) 2005. [106470]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
Information is available by course of treatment. Information on the average cost of a national health service (NHS) course of treatment for
an adult charge payer is set out as follows. Treatment is free for all children and those adults who are exempt from NHS dental charges on income or other grounds.
| General Dental Services (GDS): average cost of an adult course of treatment (CoT) in England as at year ending 31 March each year | |
| £ | |
| Average cost | |
| Sources: 1. The Information Centre for health and social care 2. National Health Service (NHS) Business Services Authority (BSA) Note: The average cost of a GDS adult course of treatment for the year ending 31 March each year has been calculated by dividing the total adult gross fees for April to March for each year by the total number of adult courses of treatment for the same time period. | |
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of dentists in England (a) accept NHS patients and (b) exclusively accept NHS patients. [106644]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not available in the form requested. Information is held centrally on the number of dentists on open national health service (NHS) contracts. As at the end of September 2006 there were 20,285 dentists reported on open NHS contracts. Dentists providing NHS treatment are free to provide private services also. Information is not held centrally on the number of dentists who choose to provide either only NHS or only private treatment.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding for NHS dentistry is for 2006-07; and if she will make a statement. [106708]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The dental funding allocated to primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) in 2006-07 is designed to support overall expenditure of £2,398 million on primary dental care services, with £1,765 million coming from PCTs and the balance from patient charge income. Precise levels of in-year expenditure and charge income will depend on a range of variables including the service levels (i.e. the annual units of dental activity) agreed by PCTs for each local contract with dentists, the relative proportions of chargeable and non-chargeable treatments carried out during the year, and the time taken to commission new services where there is a turnover in contracts.
The Government have also made available £40 million of capital resources as part of a two-year, £100 million programme of capital investment to improve infrastructure in national health service (NHS) primary dental care services.
PCTs decide locally what funding should be drawn from their total NHS resources for hospital and community based dental services, or, if appropriate, to supplement primary care provision.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are per head of population in each primary care trust area in the East Midlands. [106831]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Dentists (performers) on open NHS contracts per 100,000 population in England and East Midlands strategic health authority (SHA) by primary care trust (PCT) as at 30 September 2006 | |
| Dentists (performers) per 100,000 population | |
| Notes: 1. Performers are defined as a dentist who has been set up on the Dental Practice Division (DPD), of the BSA, Payments online (POL) system by the PCT to work under an open contract as at 30 September 2006. Data provided are a count of the individuals listed as performers on open NHS contracts within the PCT, including orthodontists. 2. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending on the date the figures are compiled. This is because the BSA may be notified of joiners or leavers up to several months, or more, after the move has taken place. The data provided consists of that reported to the BSA by 2 November 2006 3. England and SHA population data have been estimated using Office for National Statistics 2005 mid-year population estimates based on the 2001 census. PCT data have been estimated using 2004 mid-year population estimates as these are the latest available at this level. Sources: 1. The Information Centre for health and social care 2. NHS Business Services Authority | |
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to underwrite any shortfall in NHS dental charges income to allow each primary care trust fully to spend its budget allocation for NHS dentistry. [102334]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for managing net expenditure on dental services. If a PCT finds that patient charge income is below the expected levels, it is up to the PCT to work with dental providers locally to identify the reasons for this and, where appropriate, take corrective action.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health at what point her Department expects to reclaim underspends from primary care trusts from their 2005-06 NHS dentistry budget allocations. [102335]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Primary care trusts (PCTs) did not receive primary care dental allocations in 2005-06. PCTs assumed full responsibility for local commissioning of primary care dentistry and received devolved primary care dental allocations with effect from 1 April 2006.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there are in the St. Albans constituency; and if she will make a statement. [106347]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The numbers of dentists at constituency level are not readily available. Numbers of dentists at primary care trust (PCT) level, as at 30 September 2006, have been published by The Information Centre for health and social care on 29 November 2006.
As at 30 September 2006, there were 89 dentists (performers) on open national health service contracts within St. Albans and Harpenden PCT.
Notes:
1. The data sources are The Information Centre for health and social care and the NHS Business Services Authority (BSA).
2. Performers are defined as a dentist who has been set up on the dental practice division of (DPD) of the BSA, payment online (POL) system by the PCT to work under an open contract as at 30 September 2006. Data provided are a count of the individuals listed as performers on open contracts within the PCT, including open orthodontists.
3. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending on the dates the figures are compiled. This is because the BSA may be notified of joiners or leavers up to several months, or more, after the move has taken place. The figure provided consists of that reported to the BSA by 2 November 2006.
Departmental Staff
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether people employed (a) through employment agencies and (b) on a consultancy basis are included in the calculations for the full-time equivalent staff mentioned in her Department’s annual report. [102989]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Neither of these groups of people is included in the full-time equivalent staff numbers in our departmental annual report. The figures only include civil servants employed on a permanent or a temporary basis.
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