Agenda item

Representatives from the Integrated Care Board will be in attendance to update the Panel on Dental Services across Kirklees.

Members of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel will be in attendance to consider this item.

Contact: Nicola Sylvester, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer.

Tel: 01484 221000.

The Panel received a report on Dental Services which explained that the National Health Service (NHS) West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (WY ICB) had been responsible for commissioning and contracting NHS dental services since April 2023.

Alyson Corns, Humber and North Yorkshire ICB advised the Panel that in April 2023, WY ICB took on delegated responsibility from NHS England for commissioning and contracting of all NHS dental services.  WY ICB had agreed to deliver their dental commissioning responsibilities via a shared hub arrangement, hosted by Humber and North Yorkshire ICB and cover South Yorkshire.  Whilst WYI CB had the remit for commissioning dental services, Local Authorities had statutory responsibilities for oral health improvement, including commissioning evidence based oral health improvement programmes to meet the needs of the local population.

Both nationally and locally, access to NHS dentistry was a challenge with issues identifies relating to the national contract itself, workforce gaps, and procurement restrictions, making it difficult to secure new dental provision.  The Panel noted that dental contracting took place within the national context and challenges were well-embedded, meaning that WY ICB had many issues to overcome in their aims to improve dental services.  Improving access remained a priority for the ICB and work had been undertaken to improve dental services for those living in the area by building positive relationships with the profession and local dental practices to continue to improve services.

Questions and comments were invited from Members of the Health and Social Care, and Children’s Scrutiny Panels, and the following was raised:

• Up to date data regarding 5-year-olds who experience tooth decay would be provided in June 2025,
• 60% of children within Kirklees had seen an NHS dentist,
• There were no funds available for additional practices in areas where there was a deficit of practices,
• It was the Local Authorities responsibility to commission services in schools,
• There was one practice within Kirklees specifically dedicated to children’s access,
• There were two level 2 paediatric services across West Yorkshire where children could have inhalation sedation in a dental practice rather than hospital, the hope was to open another three practices,
• WY ICB had offered practices initiatives that were not reliant on Units of Dental Activity (UDA’s) to be delivered for example homelessness, to get away from the model of UDA’s, which allowed practices to deliver services in a unique way. Feedback was very positive,
• Income in practices was reliant on the UDA’s achieved,
• Children waiting for extractions through surgery had improved, theatre space had increased,
• Additional resources within the Dentistry team at the ICB had improved communication, which had improved productivity in practices,
• Data on the number of new patients treated due to measures taken by the ICB would be available in June 2025,
• Non recurrent funding was from practices that had not delivered 96% of their contract, the money was refunded to the WY ICB as it was ringfenced to dentistry who then invested in their priorities,
• The average time of referral in Kirklees from a dentist to an orthodontist was approximately 2 years,
• There was a shortage of dentists across the country, Huddersfield University proved courses for therapists and hygienists, which would help with workforce issues,
• There were few NHS dental providers across Kirklees, however one provider could have several dentists working in the same building,
• The number of NHS dentists across Kirklees was unknown due to movement of dentists.

RESOLVED- That the Panel

1)    Note the dental service update and thank officers for their attendance.

2)    Requested further information be provided by the Integrated Care Board on:

                    (i)        Data around improvements of 5-year-olds experiencing tooth decay due to the interventions that the ICB had put in place,

                  (ii)        The number of children on waiting lists requiring surgical extractions,

                 (iii)        The number of new patients taken on since the interventions had been put in place to improve service delivery,

                 (iv)        The number of NHS dentists across Kirklees.