The last information on adult and child registrations was published in August 2006 by the Information Centre for heath and social care as part of its NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report for England for 31 March 2006. The following table shows the number of patients registered with dentists in the relevant primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) areas, expressed as a proportion of the populations for those areas. The boundaries for some strategic health authorities (SHAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) have changed since March 2006.
Under the new arrangements for primary dental care services, access is no longer measured through registrations but through the number of patients seen within the most recent 24-month period. Combined data for adults and children are available for the 24-month periods ending 30 June 2006 and 30 September 2006. The Information Centre will publish the first separate data for adults and children in March 2007 as part of its publication covering the quarter ending 31 December 2006.
Percentage Adults Children All Selby and York PCT 50 76 55 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA 47 66 51 West Yorkshire SHA 50 65 54 South Yorkshire SHA 55 71 59 England 45 64 49 Notes: 1. The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. PCT and SHA areas were defined using the Office for National Statistics All Fields Postcode Directory. 2. The data cover patients registered with dentists providing general dental services or personal dental services. They exclude patients receiving dental services provided by the community dental services, by hospitals or in prisons. 3. The data cover patients registered with dentists in the relevant PCT and SHA areas, regardless of the patient’s area of residence. Expressing the data as a proportion of the resident populations for the relevant PCT and SHA areas can therefore provide only a proxy for the proportion of the population registered with a dentist. 4. 2006 population data have been estimated using Office for National Statistics 2004 mid-year population estimates based on the 2001 census as these are the latest available. 5. The boundaries used are as at 31 March 2006. Sources: 1. The Information Centre for health and social care. 2. NHS Business Services Authority (BSA). 3. Office for National Statistics.