To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with stakeholders on ensuring there is an adequate number of NHS dentists available in (a) Slough constituency, (b) the South East and (c) England; and what steps she is taking to ensure adequate levels of NHS dentists in those areas.
Answered on
20 October 2022
There is ongoing stakeholder engagement on contract reform, recruitment and retention. This includes discussions with the General Dental Council (GDC) on legislative proposals to allow greater flexibility to amend its existing international registration processes and explore alternative registration pathways to increase the availability of NHS dentists in England, including in the South East.
In September, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care in England, including in Slough and the South East. The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.