Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 11 May 2022.
Diolch yn fawr, Sioned. And you'll be aware that there has been a particular issue in relation to dentistry because of the need for infection control measures to ensure that people remain safe, including patients and the dentists themselves. And that's why we've seen a 50 per cent reduction in the number of people who have been able to access NHS dentistry. We have, of course, put measures in place to try and mitigate this, including substantial investment in helping dentists to allow air flow better in their surgeries.
I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that, because of the new dental contract that we've introduced, in Swansea bay health board, 88 per cent of practices have opted in to that new system. So, we are hoping to see a transformation now because of the way that those dental units are counted. So, they were counted as dental units before. Now we'll be moving much more into the area of prevention, and part of the contract will also be about asking new people and making sure that they get to see new people in dentistry.
We have put in an additional recurrent pot of funding—£2 million. As you'll be aware, what we can't do is to conjure up new dentists overnight. And that's why what we're trying to do is to make sure that we train hygienists and therapists, and I can assure you that there are about 20,000 people who are being seen each in week in Wales.