The Committee will receive an update from the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB) Integrated Care Board on access to dental care and advice.

The Committee received a progress report from Hugh O’Keefe, Senior Programme Manager, Pharmacy, Optometry and Dental, Buckingham, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB), on NHS dental services in Reading.

The report explained that previous updates had been provided to the Adult Social Care, Children’s and Education Committee on 18 October 2023 agenda item 7, and 20 March 2024 agenda item 7, particularly in terms of recover from the coronavirus pandemic.  The current report provided an update in terms of access to primary care dental services and the actions being taken to address challenges.

The following points were noted:

·         The rate of recovery had improved in the Reading area, with 50% of patients attending an NHS dental practice since February 2022 until the end of September 2024.

·         There had been improvements in contract delivery with 94.3% in 2023-24, Reading had the highest level of delivery amongst the 8 local authorities in BOB. It was noted that eight practices had over performed with more than 100% of the commissioned activity.

·         The ICB worked with local practices to re-commission activity to replace Castle Hill Dental practice.  The Inspire Dental Practice and University Dental Centre had taken up additional activity which increased the number of Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) to 114,524, this was now at pre-pandemic levels.

·         Changes had been made nationally to the dental contract as part of implementing the Dental Contract Recovery Plan and the ICB had also implemented local initiatives to support increased contract delivery and patient access.

·         Access to primary care dentistry was important particularly around understanding how the system worked and to help support patients with limited knowledge of the system.

·         It was noted that a third of patients that accessed dentistry were children.

·         Local initiatives included reviewing the Flexible Commissioning service to test strengthening the focus on children’s oral health improvement. This would involve a collaboration with local partners.  It was noted that there had been a low take up of the service in Berkshire West. 

·         Nationally there were plans to implement oral health and eye checks in schools for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in 2025.

·         The ICB had submitted a successful application to take part in a national pilot regarding Cardiovascular Disease Prevention – Hypertension case finding in dental practices. Two practices in Reading had signed up to the scheme. 

·         Access to NHS dental services had been recovering with Reading recovery higher than other parts of the ICB and South-East. The ICB would continue to work with key stakeholders to seek to maintain improvements in access and commission services that improve oral health.

It was requested at the next update further details be provided on local initiatives taking place in the Reading area and it was noted that further funding was needed to make improvements. 

It was noted that over delivery allowed for practices to create capacity however resourcing and understanding housing growth would help the ICB with service planning.

It was requested that data regarding patients accessing dental services in the Reading area be made available.

It was also requested if a pathway forward and targeted action could be provided to increase local access to NHS dentistry. 

It was noted that there were challenges taking dental services into a non-dental setting due to regulation issues, however there were some domiciliary services within community dental services for urgent cases.  Work was being undertaken with two care homes in Oxfordshire to establish if needs and pathways could be determined to provide dental services in these areas.

The Committee discussed the report and presentation and thanked Hugh for the information.

Resolved – That a further presentation/report be submitted to the Committee in six months and to include data specific to the Reading area.