Spending On NHS Dentistry Varied From Place To Place, Report From The NHS Information Centre Shows, UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 27 Mar 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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The amount spent on NHS dental care per head of population varied according to where you live, says a report out today (26 March 2008) from The NHS Information Centre for health and social care (The IC).

Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority (SHA) spent the most per head of population in 2005/06 at £50, an increase of 70 per cent from 1997/98. Hampshire and Isle of Wight SHA spent the least in 2005/06 at £30 per head of population, a 25 per cent increase from 1997/98.

NHS Expenditure for General Dental Services and Personal Dental Services England, 1997/98 to 2005/06 is a report that gives local-level information on expenditure in England on NHS primary dental care under the old dental contractual arrangements. The new dental contract was introduced on 1 April 2006.

The report presents expenditure information from the Dental Services Division of the Business Services Authority which represents the main elements of spend on NHS primary dental services. This shows total spend on NHS dentistry, and also the 'net' amount spent by the NHS once payments from patients had been deducted.

The figures show that for England, spend on NHS dental services (paid for by the NHS and through patient charges collected at practices) increased from £27 per head of the population to £39 during the period.

Other key findings include:

Net expenditure (relating to NHS funding only)
For England in 2005/06 was 78 per cent of the gross cost - an increase from 1997/98 when the equivalent figure was 70 per cent.

For SHA's in 1997/98 ranged from 64 per cent for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to 78 per cent for North East London.

For SHA's in 2005/06 ranged from 71 per cent for Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to 83 per cent for North East London.

The report is available here.

A factsheet tool is available which enables users to see information for individual primary care trusts, SHAs or constituencies. This information is also within tables in the annexes to the full report.

Notes

The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work.

The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. The source of this data is the payment processing records of the Dental Services Division (DSD) of the NHS Business Services Authority (formerly known as the Dental Practice Board). The DSD is responsible for transferring payments to dentists for the NHS dental services that they provide, on behalf of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs).

The report includes financial figures from two sources: final accounts information for expenditure on NHS dental services, and local level DSD figures from payment records. They differ because the final accounts include items not included in the DSD figures, but are not available in disaggregated form. These differences are explained fully in the report.

This report presents information on 'gross' and 'net' expenditure. 'Gross' expenditure refers to all payments; 'net' expenditure reflects the cost of these payments to the NHS after the deduction of income from NHS dental charges paid by patients. Gross expenditure therefore relates to NHS and patient funding, and net expenditure relates to NHS funding only.

NHS Information Centre