Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of directly employing all dental support staff working in dental surgeries through the NHS.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of employing dental support staff as full time NHS employees.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the April 2023 increases in NHS dental charges on (a) patients and (b) dentists.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The uplift of National Health Service dental charges by 8.5% from 24 April 2023 will raise important revenue for pressurised NHS budgets and NHS dental services following COVID-19 restrictions. The qualifying criteria for the range of exemptions to NHS dental charges and support through the low-income scheme remain unchanged. Just under half of NHS dental patients were treated free of charge in the 2021/22 financial year.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists were registered in each year since 2003.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department does not hold this data centrally. The General Dental Council (GDC), as the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals practising in the United Kingdom, is responsible for holding and maintaining the register of dental professionals qualified to practise dentistry.
The GDC publishes registration reports on its website which provide statistical data on the registration of dentists and dental care professionals from the GDC’s registers, including the total number of registrants. Reports from January 2018 onwards are available at the following link:
https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports
Registration data prior to 2018 is available from the GDC on request.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to produce an updated Equalities Impact Assessment on oral healthcare.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Considering the equality impacts of decisions through an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) is an integral part of developing policy within the Department. We undertake EqIAs during the implementation of new policies and projects. We will undertake additional assessments in due course as we introduce further reforms for National Health Service dental care.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Major Conditions Strategy will consider the wider determinants of health.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy’s focus is on tackling conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England: cancers; cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes; chronic respiratory diseases; dementia; mental ill health; and musculoskeletal conditions.
The Strategy will cover prevention to treatment for all six conditions and we will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens and the National Health Service in the coming weeks to identify actions that will have the most impact.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the commitment to prepare a white paper on health disparities in the white paper entitled Levelling Up the United Kingdom, published on 2 February 2022, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle health disparities through the development of the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy’s focus is on tackling conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England, including cancers; cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes; chronic respiratory diseases; dementia; mental ill health; and musculoskeletal conditions. Health disparities exist across a wide variety of conditions, from cancer to mental health, and contribute to stark and unacceptable variation in the number of years people live in good health.
The Major Conditions Strategy will apply a geographical lens to each condition to address regional disparities in health outcomes, supporting the levelling up mission to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making (a) dental nurses, (b) dental hygienists, (c) dental technicians, (d) clinical dental technicians, (e) orthodontic therapists and (f) dental therapists employees of the NHS.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No assessment has been made. The National Health Service contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings. As a result, pay and conditions are agreed between staff and the practice holding an NHS contract, providing practices with the flexibility to recruit to meet local needs.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (i) Dental Nurses, (ii) Dental Hygienists, (iii) Dental Technicians, (iv) Clinical Dental Technicians, (v) Orthodontic Therapists and (vi) Dental Therapists working in the NHS.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The information requested is not held centrally. We plan to commence collecting data on Dental Hygienists, Dental Therapists and Clinical Dental Technicians providing National Health Service care from June 2023.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent forecast of the number of (i) Dental Nurses, (ii) Dental Hygienists, (iii) Dental Technicians, (iv) Clinical Dental Technicians, (v) Orthodontic Therapists and (vi) Dental Therapists who will be working in the NHS in 5 years' time based on numbers entering the sector.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No recent forecast has been made. The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan this spring, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking account of improvements in retention and productivity.