Chamber and committees

We anticipate that the impact on employment will be negligible.

Those practices affected by the cap will also benefit from the increase in item-of-service fees.

The purpose of the General Dental Practice Allowance, as set down in the Statement of Dental Remuneration, is to ensure the practice has access to high quality premises, that the practice is compliant with health and safety standards, and that staff are able to access the requisite training and continuous professional development. It is not the specific purpose of this allowance to support a staffing complement within a practice.

On the basis of data from 2012-13, we estimate the number of practices that could be affected by the cap on General Dental Practice Allowance at 57 practices.

Source: Practitioner Services Division

Salaried dental services have a significant role in remote and rural areas, and particularly in island communities. They also provide an effective solution in areas where there is a gap in NHS general dental services provided by independent dentists.

The Scottish Government currently has in train an annual process with NHS Boards to ensure that salaried dental services provide a cost effective solution for the needs of the local population.

The combined practice inspection process does not specifically look at how a dental practice has used the General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA).

However it does inspect the decontamination facilities, practice information systems, health and safety requirements and staff training and continuing professional development records. The GDPA is considered to fund improvement in these specific areas of NHS dental practice.

Strategic responsibility for this aspect of the management of general dental services lies in Scotland with the SDPB. Practitioner Services Division acts as an agent on behalf of SDPB in operating the prior approval process.

The Continuing Professional Development Allowance and Clinical Audit Allowance allow NHS dentists to take time away from clinical practice to undertake these tasks and is an effective use of these allowances.

Maintaining up to date knowledge and skills in dentists and encouraging reflective practice in order to improve patient care are key to delivering a high quality NHS dental service.

The Scottish Dental Practice Board (SDPB) regularly receives reports from Practitioner Services Division (PSD) on performance related to prior approval.

SDPB have recently undertaken a review of the current prior approval process with a view to improving effectiveness.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S4W-17091, S4W-17096 and S4W-17106 on 26 September 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

As the cost of precious metals have increased, there has been a shift towards increased usage of non-precious metals by dentists.

For example, published data by Information Services Division shows that between 2010-11 and 2012-13 the number of precious metals crowns has decreased whereas the number of non-precious metal crowns has increased.

However the number of metal crowns and bonded metal crowns has increased overall.

Source: ISD Dental Statistics – NHS Fees and Treatments. (25th June 2013)