Thank you for your request for information about the following:

under the freedom of information act 2000 please may you provide me with information on how the NHSBSA knows which patients are exempt from paying for dental treatments. Where do they get this information from?

Your request was received on 19 March 2024 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

Patients are responsible for declaring to the dentist if they are exempt or remitted. Dental practices should ask for evidence however if none is provided, they can tick a box to indicate none was provided and the patient is still entitled to free treatment. Not having the evidence is not a barrier to receiving treatment.

The NHSBSA then carry out post treatment checks on exemption/remission claims. When a dental file is received which has been signed and declared as the patient being exempt from dental charges, a data matching exercise is instigated. NHSBSA databases are searched then passed to DWP to search for any qualifying benefits. If no valid exemption is found for that patient, an enquiry letter is issued which invites them to contact us to confirm the exemption they have in place.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk 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 communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk 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: “NHSBSA Copyright 2024” 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.