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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentists have ceased providing NHS services in each of the last five years.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentists have ceased providing NHS services in each of the last five years.
National Health Service dental statistics identify dentists who performed NHS dental activity in a given financial year.
The annual NHS dental statistics published by the NHS Business Services Authority show the number of dentists who performed any amount of NHS dental activity in England in the last five financial years. This shows that 24,655 dentists performed NHS work in 2024/25.
Within these statistics a ‘leaver’ is defined as a performer who carried out NHS dental activity in the previous financial year but none in the following year. A joiner is defined as a performer who carried out NHS dental activity in the specified year but none in the previous year.
These data do not show whether a dentist has permanently left NHS practice, as a dentist may return in a later year.
The following table shows the number of dentist leavers and joiners for each year from 2020/21 to 2024/25:
Financial year | Leavers | Joiners |
2020/21 | 2,342 | 1,399 |
2021/22 | 1,412 | 1,944 |
2022/23 | 2,002 | 1,888 |
2023/24 | 1,929 | 2,085 |
2024/25 | 1,865 | 2,213 |
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentists have left NHS practice in each of the last five years.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentists have left NHS practice in each of the last five years.
National Health Service dental statistics identify dentists who performed NHS dental activity in a given financial year. Within these statistics a ‘leaver’ is defined as a performer who carried out NHS dental activity in the previous financial year but none in the following year. This data does not show whether a dentist has permanently left NHS practice, as a dentist may return in later years.
The following table shows the total number of dentists who have done some NHS work and the leavers each year from 2020/21 to 2024/25:
Financial year | Number of dentists performing NHS work | Leavers |
2020/21 | 23,733 | 2,342 |
2021/22 | 24,265 | 1,412 |
2022/23 | 24,151 | 2,002 |
2023/24 | 24,307 | 1,929 |
2024/25 | 24,655 | 1,865 |
Source: Dental statistics – England, 2024/25, NHS Business Services Authority
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what incentives his Department is providing to recruit and retain NHS dentists in West Dorset constituency.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what incentives his Department is providing to recruit and retain NHS dentists in West Dorset constituency.
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in more rural areas. The Government is committed to ensuring that people across the country can access urgent dental care when they need it. In 2025/26, integrated care boards (ICBs) commissioned additional urgent dental appointments, and there is now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the country. From April 2026, dentists are now required to deliver a set number of urgent dental appointments each year.
Nationally, 1.8 million additional courses of National Health Service dental treatment have been delivered in the seven months between April to October 2025 compared to the corresponding months prior to the general election. For the NHS Dorset ICB, which includes the West Dorset constituency, this figure was 5,217 more treatments.
Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions for NHS dentistry. The recruitment of dentists remains a priority. ICBs, including NHS Dorset ICB, are able to make use of the Golden Hello scheme to encourage dentists to work in those areas that need them most.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. In the 10-Year Health Plan, published in July 2025, we committed to making it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period of at least three years.
We are increasing the availability of Overseas Registration Exam and Licence in Dental Surgery examinations for overseas-qualified dentists to enable an additional 2,000 dentists to join the register annually from 2028/29.
We are committed to fundamentally reforming the dental contract by the end of this Parliament.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has assessed the potential merits of establishing new dental schools in areas with persistent shortages of NHS dentists.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has assessed the potential merits of establishing new dental schools in areas with persistent shortages of NHS dentists.
We have recently announced that two new dental schools, in Portsmouth and East Anglia, have each been allocated 25 new dental school places. These new dental schools are located in areas that previously did not have Government-funded dental training places. This increase means that England will have 859 funded dental school places from 2027/28, supported by an additional £11 million per year once the expansion is fully implemented.
Allocating dental training places is a statutory responsibility of the independent Office for Students.
To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS dentists there were in England in each of the last five years.
To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS dentists there were in England in each of the last five years.
The following table shows the number of dentists that performed National Health Service work each year in England between 2020/21 and 2024/25:
Financial year | Number of dentists performing NHS work |
2020/21 | 23,733 |
2021/22 | 24,265 |
2022/23 | 24,151 |
2023/24 | 24,307 |
2024/25 | 24,655 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority annual dental statistics
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS dentists.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS dentists.
Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions to rebuild National Health Service dentistry. The recruitment of dentists remains a priority, with integrated care boards continuing to be able to make use of the Golden Hello scheme to encourage dentists to work in those areas that need them most.
The 10-Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We will now make it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period, intended to be at least three years.
We are also taking steps to increase the supply of dentists. We announced the first sustained expansion of dental school places since 2007. Backed by £11 million, a total of 50 dental school places a year have been allocated equally to the Universities of Portsmouth and East Anglia.
We are increasing the availability of ORE and LDS examinations for overseas-qualified dentists to enable an additional 2,000 dentists to join the register annually from 2028/29.
Our ambition is to deliver fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament, focused 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.
Motion that this House has considered access to dental services in West Sussex. Agreed to on question.
Motion that this House has considered access to dental services in West Sussex. Agreed to on question.
I beg to move,
That this House has considered access to dental services in West Sussex.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond, to have secured this debate—on Sussex Day, no less; I am confident that the Minister will have some excellent responses on behalf of all constituents...
I beg to move,
That this House has considered access to dental services in West Sussex.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond, to have secured this debate—on Sussex Day, no less; I am confident that the Minister will have some excellent responses on behalf of all constituents...
I commend the hon. Lady on bringing this forward. She is absolutely right that there is a dental crisis not just in West Sussex, but across the whole United Kingdom. Some 14 million people cannot get an NHS dentist. Whenever I look back—and I am old enough to look back,...
I commend the hon. Lady on bringing this forward. She is absolutely right that there is a dental crisis not just in West Sussex, but across the whole United Kingdom. Some 14 million people cannot get an NHS dentist. Whenever I look back—and I am old enough to look back,...
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his passionate advocacy for NHS dentistry in West Sussex. I am grateful to him for caring about access to NHS dentistry across the whole country. He is a fierce advocate for Strangford and makes the important point that the situation we are in is...
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his passionate advocacy for NHS dentistry in West Sussex. I am grateful to him for caring about access to NHS dentistry across the whole country. He is a fierce advocate for Strangford and makes the important point that the situation we are in is...
I commend my hon. Friend on an excellent speech. Some of my residents still travel to their NHS dentist clinic in Nottinghamshire, which is a more than 500-mile round trip from Cornwall. Does my hon. Friend agree that Cornwall integrated care board needs to sort out its underspend? This year,...
I commend my hon. Friend on an excellent speech. Some of my residents still travel to their NHS dentist clinic in Nottinghamshire, which is a more than 500-mile round trip from Cornwall. Does my hon. Friend agree that Cornwall integrated care board needs to sort out its underspend? This year,...
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about his local ICB. The underspend issue has plagued the dentistry contract over many years. The ICB for Sussex did manage to commission more urgent dental care using its underspend, meaning that it had very little to give back to the Treasury. That...
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about his local ICB. The underspend issue has plagued the dentistry contract over many years. The ICB for Sussex did manage to commission more urgent dental care using its underspend, meaning that it had very little to give back to the Treasury. That...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for shining a light on this important subject, which causes such distress for residents of West Sussex.
The Department for Health, like many Government Departments, has promised a consultation,...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for shining a light on this important subject, which causes such distress for residents of West Sussex.
The Department for Health, like many Government Departments, has promised a consultation,...
The hon. Member is making a powerful point for his constituents. Similarly, in Northern Ireland only 50% of adults are registered with NHS dentists. Almost 400,000 registrations have been lost since 2023, and ultimately practices are leaving NHS dentistry because it is financially unsustainable. Would he agree with me that...
The hon. Member is making a powerful point for his constituents. Similarly, in Northern Ireland only 50% of adults are registered with NHS dentists. Almost 400,000 registrations have been lost since 2023, and ultimately practices are leaving NHS dentistry because it is financially unsustainable. Would he agree with me that...
I very much agree that this is a national crisis. Some local authorities or local ICBs are better than others, but this is basically a national problem and needs national action.
The dentist I mentioned has told me that many of his peers have already stopped offering NHS services, and the...
I very much agree that this is a national crisis. Some local authorities or local ICBs are better than others, but this is basically a national problem and needs national action.
The dentist I mentioned has told me that many of his peers have already stopped offering NHS services, and the...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), my constituency neighbour, on securing this very important debate. Access to NHS dentistry is one of the issues that my constituents raise with me most often, and when they do,...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller), my constituency neighbour, on securing this very important debate. Access to NHS dentistry is one of the issues that my constituents raise with me most often, and when they do,...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship on Sussex Day, Sir Desmond. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) on securing this important debate on access to dentistry services in West Sussex. I also thank my fellow West Sussex MPs, my hon....
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship on Sussex Day, Sir Desmond. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) on securing this important debate on access to dentistry services in West Sussex. I also thank my fellow West Sussex MPs, my hon....
I apologise for intervening again, but I want to make a point about cancer patients, similar to the one made by the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Alison Griffiths). The teeth of cancer patients are heavily impacted by the strength of the drugs, so does the hon. Lady...
I apologise for intervening again, but I want to make a point about cancer patients, similar to the one made by the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Alison Griffiths). The teeth of cancer patients are heavily impacted by the strength of the drugs, so does the hon. Lady...
The hon. Lady makes a really good point. We know that cancer treatment is a real priority for this Government and it certainly makes sense that her suggestion is considered.
I hear from parents who are worried about finding appointments for their children; I hear from pensioners who are living with...
The hon. Lady makes a really good point. We know that cancer treatment is a real priority for this Government and it certainly makes sense that her suggestion is considered.
I hear from parents who are worried about finding appointments for their children; I hear from pensioners who are living with...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for securing this important debate, and for outlining the issues that her constituents—and, indeed, many constituents across the country—are facing. It is something of an irony that I find myself...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for securing this important debate, and for outlining the issues that her constituents—and, indeed, many constituents across the country—are facing. It is something of an irony that I find myself...