6. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Dental Reform

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:12 pm on 14 March 2023.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 5:12, 14 March 2023

Diolch yn fawr, Jane. I acknowledge there's a two-tier system. I've made that absolutely clear. There always has been. And in an ideal world, I would love it if we could get to a system where everybody was able to access an NHS dentist. But, actually, it's very difficult to find dentists. That's the first thing. We're about to start a new campaign to see if we can attract more dentists from abroad. But, actually, I think we've got to rethink the model. I think we've got to think about how we use the skill mix in a very different way. And I also think that some of the figures that I've stated today, that's the reality. I'm giving you facts. Now, there's a lot of noise—I get that there's a lot of noise—but we're talking about 20 out of 420 practices handing back contracts. Now, it may be that more of them will say, 'Well, we didn't like that, so we're moving next year', but, as it stands currently, which is why I think we do need those conversations with dentists to make sure that we are landing in the right place on this—. But, this year, the fact is, we had a target of 114,000 new NHS dental appointments, and we've got 140,000. So, we've gone way beyond what we had as an ambition. 

I just want to pay tribute to Jane for the work that you are doing, constantly and tirelessly, on dentistry, and I know one of the things that you've been pushing for is a dental registry, a national dental registry, and I just want to make it clear that we do hope that that will be something that we will be able to deliver in future, subject, obviously, to money, which is going to be a constant restraint on us in future.