Dental Services: Autism
(asked on 19th June 2025) - View Source
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 increase the availability of specialist dental provision for patients with autism.
Community Dental Services (CDS) provide specialised dental services to people with additional needs, such as people with autism, and are available in a variety of places to ensure everyone can access National Health Service dental care. These include hospitals, centres providing specialist services and mobile clinics, as well as home visits or visits in nursing and care homes.
The Getting it Right First Time report published by NHS England in January 2025, sets out recommendations to improve CDS for children and adults. In response, we are improving data reporting to increase oversight of CDS activity, and integrated care boards will consider the recommendations as part of their responsibility for commissioning CDS for their local areas. The report is available from the following link:
Under the Health and Care Act 2022, providers registered with the Care Quality Commission must ensure their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role. This will help to ensure that staff have the right knowledge and skills to provide safe and informed care for these people.