Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve retention and recruitment of NHS dentists.

In ‘Advancing Dental Care Review: Final Report’, Health Education England (HEE) made recommendations to address recruitment, retention and attracting dentists and other dental professionals into the National Health Service. These recommendations are being implemented through HEE’s Dental Education Reform Programme.

We are also working with stakeholders including the British Dental Association to make the NHS dental contract more attractive to the profession, which aims to improve patient access and reduce health inequalities. Between April and June 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver at least 95% of contracted units of dental activity to safely improve access, including for new patients.