Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential relationship between the availability of NHS dentistry appointments and patient access to bone-strengthening medication to treat cancer.

Whilst the Department has not made a formal assessment, some integrated care boards (ICBs) may be looking at this, using the flexible commissioning model opportunity to meet the needs of their populations. Cancer services remain a priority for ICBs.

The Government has implemented a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dental care, which has had an effect with more patients being seen and a 23% increase in NHS activity in the past year. We know we need to do more, and the Department’s Dentistry Recovery Plan will be published shortly, setting out a big package of change.