Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of NHS dentistry in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.

In 2022/23, 954 dentists in the North Central London Integrated Care Board performed some National Health Service work, the equivalent to 62.5 dentists per 100,000 people. This is higher than the figure in 2021/22, when 891 dentists performed some NHS work, the equivalent to 58.4 dentists per 100,000 people.

Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, addressing underlying issues, and setting out the action needed for longer term reform of the system.

A new patient premium will support dentists in taking on new patients, and a new marketing campaign will help people locate an NHS dentist as needed. New dental vans will bring dental care to our most isolated communities, and Golden Hello incentives will encourage dentists into under-served areas. We will further support dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28 this year, making NHS work more attractive and sustainable.