Health written question – answered at on 13 November 2001.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in Shropshire were registered with a NHS dentist in (a) 1990, (b) 1997 and (c) 2000; and how many remained unregistered in the same year.
Registrations of patients in the general dental service (GDS) began in October 1990. Registrations last for a fixed period which is renewed when the patient reattends the dentist. Initially the period for adults was 24 months while for children registrations lasted until the end of the following calendar year.
For new registrations made since September 1996, the registration period is 15 months for both adults and children. This affected registration numbers from December 1997 onwards when the first of the shorter registrations lapsed.
Registration numbers built up over the two years from October 1990. Thus registration figures for 1990 are not typical.
For Shropshire health authority, in the year 1997, the average number of registrations was 217,000 compared to an estimated population at mid-year 1997 of 425,000. In the year 2000, the registration average was lower at 186,000 because of the reduction in the registration period to 15 months. In addition, in the year 2000, 8,000 patients were seen by the personal dental service pilots which started in March 1999. The estimated population at mid-year 2000 was 436,000.
Many people are not registered with the dentist but choose to attend occasionally.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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