The Department’s Mandate to Health Education England published in April 2013 called for the development in partnership with the relevant stakeholders, of a national roll-out plan for foundation level dementia training for all National Health Service staff. Health Education England is responsible for developing educational frameworks based on care pathways to directly enhance patient care by providing guidance, education and training to dentists, dental care practitioners and dental nurses. The regional Postgraduate Dental Deans have overseen local training in dementia awareness for dental staff, across England, working with local groups and national organisations, such as the Alzheimer’s Society.

Data provided by NHS Digital shows there were 24,007 dentists who worked on a National Health Service contract in England for years 2016/17.

Dentists are defined as performers with NHS activity recorded by FP17 forms.

The Government is committed to supporting dentists and National Health Service dental services. NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary care dental services. It advises that it has not had any widespread reports of difficulty nationally in contracting dental providers to deliver NHS care.

In 2016/17, 3,847 more dentists worked in the NHS than were working in the NHS when the current contract started in 2006/ 2007.

There are currently 79 high street dental practices in the prototype scheme testing a clinical pathway approach focussed on prevention as part of a possible new model of primary dental care. The scheme launched in 2016 and a list of the current dental prototypes can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/543919/Live_Prototype_List.pdf

The scheme is being evaluated under the oversight of an evidence and learning group, including external members and led by Professor Eric Rooney one of the two deputy Chief Dental Officers for England.

The aim of reform is to improve oral health while maintaining access and delivering value for money. The evidence and learning group have identified the following five more detailed criteria against which to assess the success of the dental contract reform prototype scheme: access and accessibility, quality and appropriateness of care, improving oral health, value for money, scalability and potential roll-out. Dentists’ remuneration is a key part of assessing scalability and potential for wider roll out and also has its own programme reference group which includes representatives from the profession.

The main evaluation report is due by the end of this year with an initial report expected to be published later this spring.

Payments for dental undergraduate clinical placements (formerly known as dental service increment for teaching) are outside the scope of the medical undergraduate clinical placement tariff and subject to local arrangements between the placement provider and Health Education England.

There is no nationally mandated market forces factor rate applied to these locally agreed payments.

The market forces factor (MFF) index used in the allocation of funding for clinical placements (formerly known as service increment for training) is consistent with the approach taken by NHS Improvement in adjusting service tariffs to reflect unavoidable cost differences between health care providers, based on their geographical location. This is considered the most appropriate method to adjust resource allocations in the National Health Service in proportion to these cost differences.

The MFF is applied to all three education and training tariffs, however it is not applied to the contribution to salary for postgraduate doctors in training, which instead are based on national pay scales and amended for inner and outer London weighting.

The table below shows the total funding allocated by Health Education England (HEE) for dental placements in England in each of the last three years.

Source: HEE

Information relating to the funding allocated to individual dental schools is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held by the Department or the General Dental Council.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an independent organisation which is jointly owned by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment.

Information on the average cost to Health Education England (HEE) of providing Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) education and Dental Foundation Training (DFT) can be found in the tables A, B and C below.

Table A

Cost to HEE of BDS education

Notes:

1. Average Tariff is the placement fee to cover the placement.
2. Fee contribution is the tuition fee payable in year 5.
3. Maintenance is the Bursary cost.
4. These figures represent the best estimate of average cost to HEE, there may be other costs to the public purse, for example to provide student loans that are not included in these estimates.

Table B

Cost to HEE of providing dental foundation training in secondary care

Notes:

1. Training Placement Support cost is the cost of the dental practice providing training & facilities.

2. Trainee Salary/Maintenance cost is the contribution to the trainee salary and associated costs.

Table C

Cost to HEE of providing dental foundation training in primary care

Notes:

1. Training salary is the reimbursement of the salary paid to the dental trainee.

2. Trainer grant is the sum that represents the time spent in supervising a trainee.

3. Service costs is a sum that represents the service costs of employing a trainee.

Information on the average cost to Health Education England (HEE) of providing Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) education and Dental Foundation Training (DFT) can be found in the tables A, B and C below.

Table A

Cost to HEE of BDS education

Notes:

1. Average Tariff is the placement fee to cover the placement.
2. Fee contribution is the tuition fee payable in year 5.
3. Maintenance is the Bursary cost.
4. These figures represent the best estimate of average cost to HEE, there may be other costs to the public purse, for example to provide student loans that are not included in these estimates.

Table B

Cost to HEE of providing dental foundation training in secondary care

Notes:

1. Training Placement Support cost is the cost of the dental practice providing training & facilities.

2. Trainee Salary/Maintenance cost is the contribution to the trainee salary and associated costs.

Table C

Cost to HEE of providing dental foundation training in primary care

Notes:

1. Training salary is the reimbursement of the salary paid to the dental trainee.

2. Trainer grant is the sum that represents the time spent in supervising a trainee.

3. Service costs is a sum that represents the service costs of employing a trainee.

Both the General Medical Council (GMC) and the General Dental Council (GDC) are able to apply a language test to international applicants wishing to practise in the United Kingdom. Proportionate language controls can also be applied by the GMC and GDC on all applicants from the European Economic Area wishing to practise in the UK to ensure that doctors and dentists have the necessary English language skills to practise safely in the UK.

It is for the GMC and GDC as independent regulatory bodies to decide what constitutes an acceptable knowledge of English to practise safely in the UK including an acceptable score in the International English Language Test.

All graduates of United Kingdom dental schools secured a place on the dental foundation training scheme in 2014 and 2015. Information for 2016 will be made available by Health Education England once confirmed. Foundation Training requires selection on merit but this year, as in the last two years, the scheme rules prioritise applicants who have graduated from UK dental schools.

The current dental contract reform prototypes are testing a new way of providing preventative care, including the right balance of payment incentives. Subject to evaluation of the prototypes, a reformed dental contract could begin to be rolled out nationally from 2018/19 onwards.