Neil O’Brien – 2023 Statement on NHS Dental Care in Blackpool

The statement made by Neil O’Brien, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 16 January 2023.

The Government are aware of the challenges that areas such as Blackpool are facing in accessing NHS dentistry. Dentistry is an important part of the NHS and we are committed to improving access and other issues currently faced by patients and the workforce. This is why we announced a package of dental system improvements on 19 July and detailed in our plan for patients. These important first steps to reform NHS dentistry will improve access for patients and make NHS work more attractive to dentists, particularly in areas where there are access challenges. These changes include improvements to the 2006 contract to ensure dentists are remunerated more fairly for complex treatment, and patient access is improved, especially for those with higher oral health need. As part of this package, we will also enable dental practices to deliver 110% of their contract levels to help recovery from the pandemic and increase activity.

We have taken action to implement these changes, including through regulations that came into effect on 25 November. NHS England will shortly publish additional guidance for dental professionals as part of this package.

To support the provision of urgent care, over 170 urgent dental care centres remain open across the country and one of these is located in Blackpool. There are a number of local initiatives within the area, including supported access after urgent care, commissioned until the end of March 2024. This initiative reduces the number of patients attending an urgent dental centre then requiring additional urgent care within the year. In Blackpool, dental practices are also piloting “protected sessions” for vulnerable families with council “Community Connectors” facilitating care. The pilot started in February 2022 and has now been formally commissioned until end of March 2024.

In addition to this, an additional £50 million in funding was made available across England for additional activity and patient appointments in 2022. Of this £50 million, £1,633,000 was allocated to Lancashire and South Cumbria, which includes dental practices in Blackpool.