8. What action is the Welsh Government taking to improve access to NHS dentistry in Clwyd West? OQ59250

I thank Darren Millar for that, Llywydd. Contract reform, financial incentives, additional investment and diversification of the profession are amongst the actions being taken to improve access for the Member's constituents.  

I appreciate that answer. I know there's a statement on this matter later on, but 16 years ago when I first became a Member of the Senedd, people were able to access two NHS check-ups a year, and most people in my constituency were able top register with a local NHS dentist without any issues. Sixteen years on, NHS dentistry, particularly in north Wales, appears to be falling off a cliff. I hear the same sorts of concerns raised by other people in this Chamber too. We've now gone down to a system whereby most people can only access a check-up every 12 months and, in addition to that, when people move home, they're not able to register with a local NHS dentist. I have constituents having to go to Scotland in order to receive their NHS dental treatment because they cannot register in my constituency. There's one single practice in my constituency that allows people to add their names to a list to register for NHS dentistry, and you will be waiting for two years in order to get off that list and into that dental practice. I appreciate that you're trying to take action, but I'm afraid it's not quick enough, and it's clearly not having the impact that people need it to have. So, can I ask you, on behalf of my constituents in Conwy and Denbighshire, when will they be able to get the sort of NHS care from a dentist that they need?

One of the ways in which constituents in the Member's constituency will get that service is when dentists in a thoroughgoing way deliver NICE guidance. The NICE requirement since 2004 is that people should never be called back twice a year for a check-up when there's no clinical reason for doing so. NICE guidelines said all the way back then that a two-year call-back was sufficient for very many patients.

What the new contract does is it substitutes the calling back of people for routine check-ups when there's no clinical case for doing so with services for new patients. While I appreciate that it's still challenging in some parts of Wales for patients to be able to register, actually, Betsi Cadwaladr has the highest number of new patients seen in the last 10 months of any health board in Wales. Across the health board, in the first 10 months of the new contract, over 26,600 new patients have been seen in the Betsi Cadwaladr health board. That is partly assisted, of course, by the new dental academy at Bangor, which, by this autumn, when it is fully operating, will be offering appointments to up to 15,000 new patients in that part of Wales.

What we need to do is recognise the very hard work that our dental contractors do in all parts of Wales. We need to work alongside them to implement the new contract, to make sure that the metrics we're using draw on the experience of the first year to get those metrics right, but that the metrics are properly focused not on handle-turning work, which is the way the old units of dental activity contract drove people to carry out their practice, but properly clinically stratified work. People who need to be seen more regularly should be seen more regularly; those people who do not need to be seen every six months certainly should not be being called back on that basis. That will free up more time for new patients to be seen. We're seeing that happen already. There's more we can do in that way, and that will help residents of the Member's constituency.

Thank you very much to the First Minister.