Thank you for your request for information about the following:

I am seeking information collection via the BSA's Community Dental Services (CDS) data collection survey. This covers survey data for the following 5 completion dates:

Dec 2021

March 2022

June 2022

Sept 2022

Dec 2022

Please provide national headlines for England the following for the 5 specified dates:

-Number of patients waiting for a first assessment (Adults)

-Number of patients waiting for a first assessment (Paediatrics)

-Number of patients assessed and waiting for a first appointment for treatment (Adults)

-Number of patients assessed and waiting for a first appointment for treatment (Paediatrics)

AVERAGE WAITING TIMES

-Average waiting time for patients first treatment appointment for i) routine treatment ii) sedation and iii) general anaesthetic (Adults) for the specified dates

-Average waiting time for patients first treatment appointment for i) routine treatment ii) sedation and iii) general anaesthetic (Paediatrics) for the specified dates

% BEGINNING TREATMENT WITHIN 18 WEEKS OF REFERRAL

-Percentage of patients who receive and begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral for i) routine treatment ii) sedation and iii) general anaesthetic (adults) for the specified dates

-Percentage of patients who receive and begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral for i) routine treatment ii) sedation and iii) general anaesthetic (paediatrics) for the specified dates WAITING TIMES

-The waiting time for i) routine treatment ii) sedation and iii) general anaesthetic at each CDS site (Adults) for the specified dates

-The waiting time for i) routine treatment ii) sedation and iii) general anaesthetic at each CDS site (Paediatrics) for the specified dates

CAPACITY

-The estimated average proportion of pre-pandemic clinical capacity for each CDS site currently providing these procedures for the specified dates

Your request was received on 28 March 2023 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

Data from December 2021 (collected in January 2022), March 2022 (collected in April 2022), June 2022 (collected in July 2022), September 2022 (collected in October 2022) and December 2022 (collected in January 2023)

Please note:

• For the ‘WAITING TIMES’ questions the only information we captured around this is the longest waiting times (one figure not separated into paediatrics/adults) for assessments and treatment. This is calculated across all CDS sites.

• Trusts do not necessarily provide all the services the data is requested for.

• Trusts may not have provided data on all of the services they provide.

• Not all trusts have responded to each of the quarterly collections.

• The data provided is what has been received from the quarterly data collection for patient waiting list information in December 2021, March 2022, June 2022, September 2022 and December 2022.

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing, the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “Dental Services, NHSBSA Copyright 2023” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated.

Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.