Question reference: S6W-09235
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 21 June 2022
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 July 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that patients across Scotland have access to NHS dental services and regular check-ups.
Answer
It is a priority to ensure that patients are able to access NHS dental care. To support patient care and access, we have recently announced revised payment arrangements for dentists from 1 April that will more closely link payments to the number of patients seen and treatments provided. Additionally, from 1st February we also introduced an enhanced examination fee for both adults and children.
We have also committed to abolishing dental charges in the lifetime of this Parliament and that will help to remove at least one of the barriers to accessing high-quality NHS dental services.