Everyone who needs NHS dentistry should be able to access it to keep their teeth and mouths healthy, but I know there have been challenges here in Hazel Grove constituency with people struggling to get the appointments they need. I have been regularly sharing these concerns with ministers in Government and I am absolutely clear that people in Hazel Grove constituency must be able to get the appointments and care they need.
I am therefore pleased that the Government has been listening to local views and has now published our £200 million NHS Dental Recovery Plan, delivering 2.5 million more dental appointments over the next year to improve access to dental care.
To help the areas with the highest demand quickly, dental vans are being launched to reach more isolated communities, including in rural and coastal areas. In the longer term, around 240 dentists will be offered one-off payments of up to £20,000 to work in under-served areas for up to three years, helping to attract new NHS dentists.
We also need to make sure that NHS work is more attractive to dental teams, so we are building on our recent reforms to the NHS dental contract which paid dentists more fairly for complex work. The NHS Dental Recovery Plan will introduce a New Patient Premium payment to incentivise dentists to treat around a million new patients who have not seen an NHS dentist in two years or more. The minimum value of activity will also increase from £23 to £28 and high-performing practices will also be able to deliver extra work on top of their contracted activity, encouraging dentistry professionals to do more NHS work.
Progress is also being made as part of our NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, announced last summer. By 2031-32, the number of training places for dental professionals will increase by 40 per cent, bringing the number of dentist training places to more than 1,100 and dental therapy and hygiene professionals to more than 500. This will ensure that the UK is training the dental workforce needed to deliver quality care for patients.
As part of the recovery plan, more preventative care is being rolled out for younger children to help reduce tooth decay before it even starts. The Smile for Life programme will offer parents-to-be further advice while babies and toddlers in nurseries having tooth brushing as part of the daily routine, so that every child in primary school will see tooth brushing as a normal part of their day. These measures build on the success of our Family Hub programme which now has 400 sites across England, providing parents a single place to go to for family support and advice.
I will be speaking to dental teams across Hazel Grove constituency over the coming weeks and months to hear more about their experiences, but I am confident this will go a long way to help local people get the care they need.
By sticking with the plan, we will deliver more appointments to help boost access to dentistry in our area, reduce tooth decay in young children, and ensure that everyone can access the quality care that they deserve to stay healthy.
