Keeping Parliamentary Questions about Dentistry Fresh
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- Published: Friday, 03 November 2023 10:06
- Written by Peter Ingle
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With an election around twelve months away, and the polls not looking promising, the government continues to make a variety of policy announcements that it may never need to deliver.
Despite this leeway, dentistry seems to have slipped off their radar. There are though, many MPs who have been spurred on to ask about the dental access crisis by their constituents, and some remain keen to demonstrate their interest.
Recently, Bridget Phillipson, Lab Houghton and Sunderland South, asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department was taking to improve access to NHS dental services in her constituency. Mrs Phillipson is regarded as a heavyweight who currently shadows the education portfolio, and is likely to be a key member of any Labour administration.
Seasoned Neil O’Brien watchers will be able to predict much of the Secretary of State’s reply. He said that the government was, “currently working on a plan for dentistry to improve access to dental care.” He accepted that there were “several fronts where we need to take further action.” What he described as “Our dentistry recovery plan” would build on the July 2022 package of changes and particularly look to improvements for new patients and incentivise dentists to deliver more NHS care. He added the inevitable reference to the legal requirement upon practices to update their NHS website information regularly, and concluded with the familiar suggestion that those struggling to find a local dentist should call NHS 111.
So far, all familiar material. O’Brien then went on to confirm that NHS England had provided ICB’s with guidance requiring dental funding to be ring fenced. He said that extra funding had been made available by ICB’s to local practices, including in Mrs Phillipson’s constituency, to provide extra sessions outside their normal hours. These were for those with urgent needs, as well as looked after children, “unscheduled care patients,” and those with high or complex needs. This was a pilot that would run to March 2024.
A few days later another shadow minister, Stephen Morgan, Portsmouth South, asked the minister: “What discussions he has had with the General Dental Council on steps to help reduce the time taken to approve qualified dentists.” O’Brien replied that his department worked closely with the GDC to support them to reduce the time it took to register dentists. He mentioned the March 2023 legislation intended to give the GDC more flexibility, and welcomed the Councils recent announcement that it had doubled the size of its registration casework team.
Selaine Saxby, Con, North Devon, tried a novel approach, presenting a petition of her constituents. This asked that the House of Commons urge the Government to assist with emergency dental provision there. It read: Declares that the sustained lack of dental provision in North Devon has led to critical reduction in health outcomes; notes that access to dental services has worsened since the pandemic and despite ongoing from government ministers, the NHS, the County Council and Integrated Care Board the situation continues to get worse, not better; further declares that to ensure that the people of North Devon’s health is not negatively affected any further, concrete steps need to be taken now to bring more dental provision our constituency.
A day later Peter Aldous, Con, Waveney asked the Prime Minister, when the dentistry plan produced by the Department of Health and Social Care would be published. He also asked the PM to ensure that any clawed-back unspent funds were ring fenced for NHS dentistry, to help deal with emergencies and to clear “the backlog.”
Here the PM returned to familiar ground. £3 billon was being invested in NHS dentistry, the reformed contract was improving access, and activity was rising. The dental recovery plan would be out “shortly” and would include action to incentivise dentists to deliver “even more NHS care.”
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