The national Dental Access Programme ran from January 2009 to March 2011, and during that time the NHS achieved a substantial two million increase in dental access for patients.
In addition, the GP Patient Survey, published in March 2011, reported that nationally 60% of adults tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the two years from January 2009 to December 2010, and of these 93% were successful. The success rate was higher for shorter periods: with 96% being successful in the six months from July-December 2010.
The formal programme is at an end, but the Government remains committed to improving access, as stated in the Coalition Agreement and Operating Framework for 2011-12 which says:
“PCTs should continue to commission improvements in access to NHS dentistry, and seek to improve efficiency through effective management of dental contracts.”
Good access to NHS dentistry is also part of the NHS’ commitments to patients as set out in the NHS Constitution Handbook.
In the longer term, a new dental contract will be introduced to meet the NHS White Paper commitment to improve the quality of patient care and increase access to NHS dental services.
SHA dental leads will continue to support their PCTs during 2011-12 and will continue to review progress and monitor access.
The focus will be on efficiencies and PCTs will still be able to use the extensive Dental Access Programme resources on this website for managing contracts and recall intervals, and get support from NHS Primary Care Commissioning advisors.
NHS Dental Services will continue to provide support for PCTs using their e-reporting software to analyse and manage their contracts and recall intervals.
A complete summary presentation of the Dental Access Programme is available for all those who would like more detail about what has been achieved.
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