Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to publish the recovery plan for NHS dentists; and what interim provision she is making for people unable to obtain NHS dentistry treatment locally.

Patients in England are not registered with a National Health service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend, allowing patients the choice of where they would like to receive a course of treatment.

Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days, to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.

We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan, to be published shortly, which will address how we can significantly improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver NHS care.