The numbers of national health service dentists, as at 31 March, 1997 to 2006 are available in Annex E of the NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006. Information is available by strategic health authority (SHA) and by primary care trust (PCT). Annex G contains information by parliamentary constituency.
This measure counted the number of NHS dentists recorded on PCT lists as at 31 March each year. This information is based on the old contractual arrangements, which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. This report, published on 23 August 2006, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dwfactivity
The numbers of dentists with NHS activity during the years ending 31 March, 2007 and 2008 are available in Table G1 of Annex 3 of the NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2007-08 report. Information is provided by SHA and by PCT but is not available by constituency. This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006. This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dental0708
Following a recent consultation exercise, this measure is based on a revised methodology and therefore supersedes previously published workforce figures relating to the new dental contractual arrangements. It is not comparable to the information collected under the old contractual arrangements. This revised methodology counted the number of dental performers with NHS activity recorded via FP17 claim forms in each year ending 31 March.
Further work is currently being undertaken to determine whether the new definition used under the new dental contractual arrangements can be applied to the years under the old contractual arrangements to produce a consistent time series.
Both sets of published figures relate to headcounts and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others.