Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to NHS dentistry in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

Since July 2022, NHS England have asked practices to deliver 100% of contracted units of dental activity to safely improve access for patients, including in Bournemouth East and the South West. The South West Dental Team are currently commissioning additional mandatory dental services in the region. Priority areas have been identified for access, based on replacing activity which ceased in 2021/22. Contract performance criteria for these new contracts will include the measurement and assessment of the number of additional new patients accepted for treatment and delivery against the Starting Well Core initiative. Contracts with a duration of four years will be awarded to commence in late summer 2022

The Department and NHS England have recently announced measures to improve the National Health Service dental system to increase access for patients, target those with higher oral health needs and make NHS dentistry a more attractive place to work for dentists and their teams.