To ask the Minister of Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure there is adequate provision of Health Service Dental Services readily available to the public.

Routine dental care resumed on 20 July 2020 however, enhanced infection prevention and 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.

To ensure that this limited treatment capacity is targeted appropriately, guidance issued to all Northern Ireland General Dental Practitioners recommends that patients are seen on the basis of need and that patients requiring emergency and urgent care are given the highest priority.

Updated operational guidance was issued to General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) on 21 October 2020 and included details of a marked 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). The total level of FSS and net IoS payments made between April and November 2020 is around £43.3 million (£32.7 million FSS) which represents a 32% increase compared with the net IoS payments made over this period in 2019-20.

General Dental Services has received an additional £14.73 million in funding since April 2020. This has included, £0.97 million in Level 1 PPE, £3.76 million for Level 2 PPE and £10 million for the provision of FSS payments on a gross basis. 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.