Request

In response to FOI-02035 you stated NHSE are now data controllers for the Community Dental Services data collection survey. NHSE deny this.

So I am seeking information gathered via the Community Dental Services (CDS) data collection survey.

This covers survey data for all completion dates between: September 2023 and October 2024.

Please provide national headlines for England these 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

Response

Averages

For questions about averages, the respondents provide their own average, and the information we have supplied is the average of those averages. We do not hold the raw numbers to calculate the actual national averages.

Percentages of Patients

Please note that we do not hold information on the overall percentage of patients, each survey respondent only supplies their percentage, but not the raw numbers which these are based on. Therefore, we cannot supply the overall percentage. We have therefore supplied you with the average of percentages received.

Split between “Adult” and “Paed”

The questions about percentages beginning treatment within 18 weeks of referral, and longest wait times do not separate between “adults” and “paeds” so the information collected in response to those questions do not provide that level of detail. Therefore, that information is also not held. We have supplied the average of the overall percentages, and the longest wait times but without splitting as requested.

Remaining Information

A copy of the information is attached.

The quarterly collections used in this dataset are:

October 2023 - [Data from September 2023] January 2024 - [Data from December 2023] April 2024 - [Data from March 2024] July 2024 - [Data from June 2024] October 2024 - [Data from September 2024]

Not every trust has responded to each quarter’s data collection.

Not every trust has responded to each question within each quarter’s data collection. Some trusts do not conduct all of the services.

There have been some queries received from trusts as to what information should have been submitted (some have submitted a quarter’s worth of data, instead of just the previous months data)

There have been some queries received from trusts where one trust has submitted data on behalf of multiple trusts within their individual trust’s submission. There is a chance that the other trusts also made their own individual submissions which would be included in the figures provided.

Where multiple submissions were received from trusts in a single quarter’s data collection, only the most recent response was kept and used.

Waiting times are collected based on the longest waiting time for a patient, as such we have provided the longest waiting time as well as the average longest waiting time for each of the services.

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

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” 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.