Written question asked by Ashok Kumar (Labour) on Friday, 10 December 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 20 December 2004. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Monday, 20 December 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the merits of training dental nurses to conduct simple regular dental check-ups.

Answer: Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the merits of training dental nurses to conduct simple regular dental check- ups. [204823] Ms Rosie Winterton: We are working with General Dental Council to develop team working in dentistry by providing for the registration of additional classes of professional complementary to dentistry including dental nurses. The new contractual arrangements we are to introduce from October 2005, which involve the delegation of the commissioning of national health service dentistry to primary care trusts, will provide or greater scope for innovation in the delivery of dental care.

Secondary information