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General Dental Service
Lord Colwyn asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What was the cost to the General Dental Service in 1999, 2000 and 2001 for:
(a) the total number of fillings placed;
(b) the total number of permanent teeth that were filled for the first time;
(c) the total number of deciduous teeth that were filled; and
(d) the total number of existing fillings that were replaced.[HL511]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The fee cost of fillings given in the General Dental Service (GDS) is shown in the table for all fillings and for deciduous fillings for the years 1999–2000, 2000–01 and 2001–02 for England. Also is shown in the table for all fillings is net fee cost that is cost after deducting patient charges. For fillings in deciduous teeth there is no patient charge, gross and net costs are the same.
A breakdown of these costs between first fillings in teeth and replacement fillings is not available.
1. Statement of Dental Remuneration (SDR) items; 14, 58 (apart from f and g), 4401, 4405 and 6001. Net cost estimates, ie gross fee costs after deducting patient charges are in brackets.
2. Deciduous teeth fillings covers SDR items 4401, 4405 and 6001.
Lord Colwyn asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The information which is available for fillings in the General Dental Service is for expenditure claims for the fee items in the statement of dental remuneration (SDR). The number of fillings by SDR fee item is shown in the table for England for the years 1999–2000, 2000–01 and 2001–02.
Most fee items do not specify precisely the number of tooth surfaces so a breakdown of the total number of claims for fillings by the number of tooth surfaces is not available.
Root lesions are usually treated with glass ionomer fillings and account for most of the treatment under fee items 1426 or 5826 although these fee items can also cover other treatments.
Notes:
MO=Mesio-occlusal filling which involves the biting surface and front (mesial) contact point.
DO=Disto-occlusal which involves the biting surface and back (distal) contact point.
Lord Colwyn asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Information on referrals from the General Dental Service to community care or hospital care is not available centrally.
100,400 episodes of care carried out by the Community Dental Service had been referred from other dentists. Other dentists include GDS dentists.
The total number of in-patient admissions to hospital for treatment which included oral surgery, restorative dentistry, paediatric dentistry, orthodontics and dental medicine are included in the table. These admissions include referrals originating from the GDS. Treatment of outpatients is not included.
Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics
Lord Norton of Louth asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The question of the definition of disability is a complex one. The Department of Health does not maintain a definitive list of conditions that it recognises as disabilities.
Whether or not an individual suffering from acrophobia would be regarded as being disabled under either or both of these legal definitions would depend on the severity of the condition and the way in which it manifested itself.
Access to other elements of support for disabled people, for example benefits or transport concessions, may rely on different criteria, being specific to those benefits or concessions.
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Some 31 laboratories of the Public Health Laboratory Service are to be transferred to National Health Service trusts and 10 to the Health Protection Agency.
The rationale underlying these decisions, as described in detail in the Chief Medical Officer's strategy for combating infectious diseases, Getting ahead of the Curve, is that the proposed Health Protection Agency is intended to be a specialist body fulfilling a health protection role, as distinct from an operational clinical role. To this end, the laboratories of the PHLS that provide a general clinical diagnostic service are to be transferred to the NHS, while those that provide a specialist or reference function are to transfer to the proposed Health Protection Agency. The public health role of all the laboratories is to be maintained and we intend that the move will strengthen public health microbiology throughout the NHS.
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath : The report of the strategic review group was presented to the Public Health Laboratory Service board in Autumn 1994. After consultation, the board accepted all the conclusions and recommendations in the report. The board's decisions on its new strategy were endorsed by the Department of Health and the Welsh Office.
The report recommended that the service should take steps to enhance all aspects of its scientific, technological and managerial capacity, so that it could respond even more effectively to the challenges posed by new and emerging infections, by technological and scientific development, and by the changes occurring in the National Health Service.
The steps which were taken by the board at the time have resulted in a service which has proved its effectiveness in responding to many challenges from new and emerging infections since 1994 and which continues to do so. They included a service development programme to strengthen its public health functions; a restructuring of the network of area and regional public health laboratories into groups, to enhance their management and effectiveness and to provide a defined level and quality of services to local populations, hospital/NHS trusts, general practitioners, consultants in communicable disease control, local authority environmental health departments and other customers; and a service-wide drive to make better use of resources and to increase the value for money provided for all its customers.
Year All fillings1 Deciduous teeth fillings2
1998–99 218.6 (126) 9.3
1999–2000 222.2 (127) 9.7
2000–01 220.6 (125) 10.1
What proportion of the total number of fillings placed in 1999, 2000 and 2001 were:
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(a) one surface;
(b) two surfaces;
(c) three surfaces or more; and
(d) root lesions.[HL512]
SDR Item Code Treatment description 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
1401,5811 Amalgam filling–1 surface 2,423 2,335 2,197
1402,5812 Amalgam filling–2 or more surfaces 498 477 456
1403,5813 1 MO or DO filling–2 or more surfaces 4,138 4,050 3,879
1404,5814 1 MOD filling–3 or more surfaces 1,586 1,513 1,411
1421,5821 Composite synthetic resin filling–1 filling 4,173 4,280 4,271
Composite/synthetic resin filling–2 or more fillings 357 370 362
1426,5826 Glass ionomer filling–1 filling 1,877 1,827 1,779
Glass ionomer filling–2 or more fillings 79 77 79
4401,6001 Filling in a deciduous tooth 1,479 1,482 1,476
4405 Treatment on referral: a deciduous filling 62 72 71
What was the total number of referrals from the General Dental Service to community care or hospital care for patients who needed specialist treatment and care.[HL 513]
Dental Speciality Number of Admissions
Oral Surgery 191.5
Restorative Dentistry 2.2
Paediatric Dentistry 9.3
Orthodontics 0.6
Dental Medicine 1.0
All Dental Specialities 204.6
Whether, and in what circumstances, people suffering from acrophobia are treated as disabled. [HL514]
How many public health laboratories are scheduled to be transferred (a) to the Health Protection Agency; and (b) to their local National Health Service trust; and what is the rationale underlying these decisions. [HL539]
What has been achieved as a result of the strategic review of the Public Health Laboratory Service conducted in 1994.[HL544]
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