Dental Services: Reform — Written Question

Question

Helen Morgan

Liberal Democrat — North Shropshire

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when details of further NHS dental contract reforms are planned to be published; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing more flexible commissioning models to support mixed dental practices to expand access to care and deliver more preventive services.

Answer

Stephen Kinnock

The Government's response to the recent consultation on National Health Service dental contract reforms will be published shortly.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.

Commissioners can use flexible commissioning where they identify a need that cannot be met effectively through the provision of mandatory services. In doing so, they must satisfy themselves that these arrangements are appropriate and offer good value for money.