Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Our plan for patients, published on 22 September 2022, what steps his Department is taking to require dentists to update their NHS website profiles more frequently.

In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care.

We have taken action to implement these changes, including through amendments to the National Health Service dental contract introduced on 25 November 2022. It became a contractual responsibility for NHS dentists to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. Practices are required to update their NHS.UK profiles at least once every 90 days, including information on whether they are accepting new patients.

Commissioners will have access to a report showing which practices are non-compliant, with monitoring due to come into effect from end of March 2023.