To ask the Minister of Health what provisions are being made to enable the full return of routine Health Service dental care.

Routine dental care resumed on 20 July 2020 however, enhanced infection prevention control measures including additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) requirements, fallow time and cleaning after Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGPs) limit the number of patients that can be seen each day.

Updated operational guidance was issued to General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) on 21 October 2020 and included details on reduction of fallow times. While the new guidelines should allow for an increased number of appointments per day, overall patient throughput is expected to remain below normal levels for the foreseeable future.

To support the sustainability of practices through this difficult time the Department established the General Dental Services Financial Support Scheme (FSS). In the first six months of 2020/21 the combined level of FSS and net Item of Service (IoS) payments made to GDPs was approximately £32 million. This compares with the £24 million worth of net IoS payments made in the same period in 2019-20.

A further £5m in funding has been approved to address the reduction in revenue from patients, resulting in an additional total investment of £13m. The financial support has been, and will continue to be, conditional on dentists providing care to registered Health Service patients on the basis of need.