Stephen Kinnock
MP for Aberafan Maesteg · Labour · United Kingdom
“I thank the shadow Secretary of State for her kind words and look forward to our exchanges across the Dispatch Box. I am ready to engage with her on getting the maximum benefits for the people of Wales.”
“I thank the right hon. Lady and look forward to working with her. My understanding is that there were challenges around the helicopter capability. Decisions were taken by Natural Resources Wales some time ago to change the way that the tendering for helicopter capability works. We certainly need to look at that.”
“I thank my right hon. Friend for his question. Like him, I pay tribute to all those involved in the collective and heroic response to the wildfires.”
“I thank the right hon. Lady for her question. Many of the ideas coming forward for devolving power right across our United Kingdom, beyond Cardiff Bay and Holyrood, are very exciting, and I look forward to exploring them with her.”
“Just to be clear, this is not about staying out of the issue; it is about respecting the devolution settlement, but being prepared to work constructively where we can in partnership with the Welsh Government. The hon.”
“I know about and welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s strong connections to Wales. I recognise the connectivity benefits that WSMR’s proposal could deliver, particularly for passengers in Wales and the west midlands.”
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“Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford today, too many adults with cerebral palsy feel that their support drops away as they transition out of paediatric services. That is exactly why the reforms we are delivering through our 10-year health plan are so critical to strengthening the support available for people with cerebral palsy throughout their lives. Our 10-year health plan sets out a vision for a health and care system that is more personalised, more integrated and more proactive for people with long-term and complex conditions, including cerebral palsy. That means moving away from reactive care based on crisis points towards lifelong support that anticipates needs, prevents deterioration and joins up specialist community and primary care services.”
“Importantly, the specification also strengthens national recognition of cerebral palsy as a lifelong condition, helping to embed more consistent, informed support for adults across primary care settings. That includes the requirement for services to identify barriers to access and make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. That is an important safeguard for adults with cerebral palsy, many of whom experience pain, fatigue, visual perceptual changes, challenges or communication needs that can affect their interaction with health services. These reforms ensure that GPs are supported by a clearer national framework, better referral pathways and stronger system expectations. As we have heard from my hon.”
“The service specification now requires integrated care boards and specialist centres to work much more closely with GPs, strengthening communication and clarifying referral pathways so that primary care clinicians understand when an adult with cerebral palsy requires specialist review or escalation. That is crucial, because too many adults report difficulty in securing informed support in general practice or face long delays in being referred to clinicians with expertise in neuro-disability. Those new expectations are designed to ensure that GPs have the confidence and the clarity they need to identify emerging concerns, initiate timely investigations and support adults whose needs may change as they age.”
“Those changes will directly support early intervention, reduce unwarranted variation between local systems and help to embed more proactive, joined-up primary and specialist care, improving outcomes, continuity and quality of life for adults with cerebral palsy. The updated neurology service specification ensures that cerebral palsy is embedded within a broader national framework, strengthening national expectations for adult cerebral palsy care. One of the most important ways we are strengthening support for adults with cerebral palsy is by improving awareness and understanding within primary care.”
“That means better communication between GPs and specialist services, clearer and more consistent referral pathways and stronger recognition that cerebral palsy is a lifelong condition that requires timely review and escalation when needs change. On cerebral palsy specifically, the service specification mandates a networked, multidisciplinary model for adult cerebral palsy care, emphasising integrated care pathways, structured transition from ages 13 to 14 and annual reviews for complex needs. It ensures equitable access to specialists, specialised treatments such as botulinum toxin and requires services to address physical and communicative barriers to care.”
“NHS England’s revised service specification for adult specialised neurology services, which was published in August last year and comes into effect next month, represents an important step forward in improving care for adults with cerebral palsy. For the first time, it sets clear expectations for how people with lifelong neurological conditions, including cerebral palsy, should move between general practice, community services and specialist centres. The specification requires integrated care boards and specialist centres to organise services using a population health approach, ensuring equitable access to both general and specialist neurology services and oversight from multidisciplinary teams.”
“Similarly, on extending the qualities and outcomes framework, or QOF, to incorporate the creation of general practice-level cerebral palsy registers, we are operating in a very challenging fiscal environment. QOF indicators must be evidence based, deliverable at a national scale and balanced against the need to reduce administrative pressures on general practice. Current policy is that ICBs should use NICE guidance and national service specifications to commission appropriate local services, rather than creating condition-specific national incentives. Although we have no plans at present to commission any formal gap analysis of adherence to, or non-compliance with, NICE guidelines, I wish to remind all ICBs of their responsibilities and the importance of adhering to those guidelines.”
“By contrast, young adults with cerebral palsy alone often fall outside those pathways, and therefore struggle to access the same level of timely, proactive support, despite having significant and lifelong needs. On the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford made about ringfenced funding, we expect ICBs to commission services for people with cerebral palsy based on local population need, and informed by NICE guidance and national service specifications. That approach is consistent with the wider NHS financial framework, which does not create condition-specific funding pots, but rather supports local systems to make evidence-based decisions across all long-term conditions.”
“Although cerebral palsy is a lifelong neurological condition, we frequently see well-structured, multidisciplinary paediatric care systems simply evaporating when people reach the age of 18. Adults are left navigating a fragmented system with no clear pathways, limited specialist input and inconsistent recognition of their needs. We know that adults with cerebral palsy face disproportionately high risks of chronic pain, fatigue, mobility loss, falls, respiratory illness and cardiovascular disease—harms that are preventable with co-ordinated, proactive care. Young adults who have both cerebral palsy and a learning disability often receive better support, because they can access well-established learning disability pathways that provide structured reviews, specialist teams and co-ordinated care.”
“It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) for securing this important debate. Many Members in this House speak on issues of importance to their constituents; far fewer bring the depth of personal experience, the understanding and the long-term perspective that he has of this issue. His own experiences of caring for a child with cerebral palsy reflect the realities faced every day by parents and carers across the country, and he speaks with such compassion and authority. Adults with cerebral palsy make up a significant but often overlooked part of our population—around 130,000 people across the UK. For far too long, they have been “invisible to the NHS”, in the words of the cerebral palsy charter.”
“Member for Mid Bedfordshire on securing this debate.”
“Those adjustments help to support rural communities in accessing the health services that they need. I hope that I have managed to touch on some of the issues raised. It is a wide-ranging topic because rural healthcare, by definition, requires many different services. We absolutely recognise the challenges, and we recognise that we still have a mountain to climb before we can get our NHS back on its feet and fit for the future. We believe that through the three shifts—from hospital to community, treatment to prevention and analogue to digital—and the strategies that we are pushing through on workforce, digital, better support for general practice, and neighbourhood health, we can get our NHS back on its feet and fit for the future. Once again, I thank all hon. Members present and I congratulate the hon.”
“Member for Mid Bedfordshire, between 2025-26 and 2028-29, central Bedfordshire is set to see its notional allocation for adult social care services increase by £11.3 million, which is more than a 7% cash increase above budgeted adult social care spend. I want to say a quick word on finance. To support remote or sparsely populated areas, the ICB target allocations formula includes an emergency ambulance cost adjustment to reflect longer travel times in sparsely populated areas; a travel time adjustment to the community services formula to reflect the additional time it takes patients to travel between appointments in sparsely populated areas; and an adjustment to support hospitals with 24-hour A&E services that are remote from the wider hospital network and have unavoidably higher costs.”
“That will enable the upgrade of hundreds of ambulances and the expansion of urgent and emergency care capacity, reducing A&E wait times and getting more ambulances back on the road, more quickly. Rural adult social care services are really important. Local authorities are responsible for shaping their care markets to meet the diverse needs of local people. However, the Government are also committed to ensuring adult social care funding reflects the costs that different communities face, which is why we have updated the formula used to distribute funding for adult social care to local authorities to include a remoteness adjustment. That means that the funding distribution better reflects the cost of providing care in different parts of the country. To give the local picture in the constituency of the hon.”
“As a first step, our 2026 reforms are focused on improving the dental contract to deliver the right care to the right people, including those in rural areas, while incentivising NHS dentists to provide more NHS care, with additional urgent appointments and new pathways for patients with complex needs. We are also continuing to recruit dentists under the golden hello scheme, which offers dentists £20,000 to work in underserved areas. Urgent and emergency care is also a challenge for rural areas. We are ensuring that the country gets the care it needs, when it needs it. We launched our urgent and emergency care plan for 2025-26, supported by a substantial £450 million of capital investment.”
“Furthermore, the introduction of a practice-level GP reimbursement scheme, worth £292 million, will enable practices to hire additional GPs or fund extra sessions with existing GPs. We are also seeing the results of those broad efforts. I am absolutely delighted that patient satisfaction has risen by over 15% since July 2024, from 60% to 75%, and an additional 6.8 million GP appointments have been delivered compared with the same period last year. We know that patients are struggling to access NHS dentistry services, particularly in rural areas. To address that, we are reforming the dental contract to match resources to need and to improve access.”
“That framework will also require a significant reduction in the number of clinically unnecessary follow-ups. Turning to general practice, which came up a lot in the debate, we absolutely recognise the challenges facing rural communities in accessing GP services. We are expanding capacity across England, including to the areas that need it most. We are investing over £480 million extra into GP services this year, including investment in the primary care workforce, ensuring places like Mid Bedfordshire get the resources and GPs that they need. Since October 2024, we have invested £160 million into the additional roles reimbursement scheme, which has supported the recruitment of over 2,000 GPs—smashing our manifesto pledge of 1,000 additional GPs.”
“By targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest, we will deliver healthcare closer to home for those who need it most. Neighbourhood health plans will also be drawn up by local government, the NHS and its partners. The integrated care board will bring those together into a population health improvement plan for its footprint and will use that to inform commissioning decisions. The medium-term planning framework, covering 2026-27 to 2028-29, sets out proposals for the further use of advice and guidance, asking systems to ensure all referrals go through a single point of access. That delivers a robust approach to triage so that patients are cared for closer to home, and there are fewer out-patient appointments in secondary care.”
“We are striving for digital services to improve access, experiences and outcomes for the widest range of people based on their preferences, as any digital healthcare benefit will be limited if people remain digitally excluded. We are working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on the issues raised around improving access to broadband. To deliver neighbourhood health services, the 10-year health plan introduces two new contracts, including one to create multi-neighbourhood providers covering populations of around 250,000 people. That will unlock the advantages and efficiencies possible from greater-scale working across all GP practices and small neighbourhood providers within the footprint. We will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, which includes rural towns.”
“Neighbourhood health provides the unifying framework that will bring together what is already under way across primary care, community services, urgent care, prevention, digital, estates and population health more broadly. The neighbourhood health service will make it easier for people to access care closer to where they live, including in neighbourhood health centres. Delivery will be locally led, with systems determining how neighbourhood health is designed to meet local population need. That will factor in how services may need to look different across rural and urban areas. The neighbourhood health service will also move us towards a fully digitally enabled health service.”
“That work will start in the areas of greatest need, including rural towns and villages. The hon. Member and others also asked about the definition of neighbourhoods in rural areas. First, neighbourhoods are natural communities that are recognisable by local residents. Secondly, neighbourhoods will typically have a population of around 50,000 people, but coherent geography is more important for defining neighbourhoods than population size. Thirdly, the geography of the neighbourhood will be determined locally by integrated care boards in partnership with their strategic partners, particularly local authorities. The hon. Member also asked how rural areas will benefit from neighbourhood health.”
“Those three shifts—from hospital to community, sickness to prevention and analogue to digital—will support neighbourhood and community health services in getting the investment they need, and will greatly expand and improve access to digital services, bringing healthcare closer to everyone’s home. The hon. Member focused quite a lot of his speech on our emerging neighbourhood health strategy. I will provide some further detail in response to some of his points. He highlighted the important differences between urban and rural. We recognise that neighbourhood services will need to look different across rural and urban areas to best meet the needs of each community. That is why their delivery will be locally led, with local systems determining how neighbourhood health is designed for their area.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) on securing this vital debate. I am also grateful to other hon. Members for making excellent contributions this afternoon. We know that the NHS faces pressures all over the country, with rural communities experiencing unique health and wellbeing challenges shaped by geography, demography, infrastructure and access to services. Our 10-year health plan is a commitment to rewire our NHS, with the three shifts to improve access to healthcare for everyone—no matter where you live or how much you earn.”
“We know that dentistry was left in crisis by the Conservatives, but this Government are determined to ensure that everyone can access a dentist when they need one. We have recently broadened access to dental appointments, so that patients who need more serious and ongoing treatment no longer miss out. Between April and October 2025, we delivered 1.8 million more treatments than in the same period before the general election.”
“I am very sorry to hear about the plight of my hon. Friend’s constituent, and I would be more than happy to look into the specifics of her case. The sad reality is that after 14 years of Tory neglect and incompetence, we have ended up with a two-tier dentistry system. This Government are determined to ensure that high-quality NHS dentistry is available to everyone who needs it. The 2026 reforms that I announced on 16 December will help patients who have complex needs by creating a new care pathway, backed by tariffs for dentists of between £250 and £700, which could save patients up to £225 in fees. Our 2026 measures, combined with long-term contract reform, will indeed enable timely, high-quality treatment that is within financial reach.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Conservatives failed our children’s health; tooth decay is the most common reason for hospital admissions for five to nine-year-olds. That is a truly shameful, Dickensian state of affairs. We have provided Derbyshire county council with £82,000 for this year’s supervised toothbrushing programme, with further funding agreed till 2028-29. I am delighted that, of the 42,000 increase in the number of treatments in the Derby and Derbyshire ICB area, 19,000 were for children, and by extending the soft drinks industry levy we will protect kids’ teeth from decay—a policy that is emblematic of the shift from treatment to prevention that is at the heart of our 10-year plan.”
“We come to this Chamber month in, month out for these oral questions but we never hear an apology from those on the Opposition Benches for the mess in which they left NHS dentistry. For the Conservatives, sorry really does seem to be the hardest word. With regard to the hon. Gentleman’s question, we have delivered 1.8 million additional appointments between April and October 2025, compared with the same period before the general election. I would be happy to furnish him with the precise numbers of how many more have been provided in his constituency and his ICB area. He can watch his post box for that information.”
“Our manifesto commitment was about improving access to urgent dental care, and that is precisely what we have done by commissioning hundreds of thousands of additional urgent treatments. It became clear as we were working through that process that the clinical definition was too narrow and out of step with the common-sense interpretation, so we acted on the advice of the chief dental officer and broadened the definition. From this April, urgent care will be embedded in the contract, and of course we continue to work with the sector on long-term contract reform.”
“As I have just pointed out to the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay), we have broadened the definition, because the clinical definition of “urgent” was simply not in line with the common-sense interpretation. People removing their own teeth in DIY dentistry were not fitting into the classification of “urgent”. We have changed that categorisation. As a result of that, I am pleased to confirm that we have delivered 1.8 million additional appointments and treatments this year compared with the same period last year—April to October 2025. We will continue to work on that basis of embedding urgent care into the contract, as I announced on 16 December, in the 2026 reforms that we are carrying out.”
“We inherited a broken NHS dental system in which many people were unable to access a dentist when they need one, including in my hon. Friend’s constituency, but we are making real progress, having increased the number of NHS treatments by 1.8 million between April and October 2025 compared with the same period before the general election. As a result of this nationwide increase, I am pleased to report that 89,000 more NHS dental treatments were delivered between April and October last year in the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care board area, which of course includes my hon. Friend’s constituency.”
“I am sorry to hear about the plight of my hon. Friend’s constituent. I will, of course, be more than happy to meet her and look into the specifics of the case. Specialised dental services have a vital role to play in providing dental treatment to vulnerable people in settings such as care homes. In many cases, this is about teamwork and integration, ensuring that primary dental care is working in lockstep with adult social care. There is clearly some room for improvement in some areas. I would be happy to work with her to ensure that this issue gets resolved.”
“Through our 10-year health plan and the shift from hospital to community, our new neighbourhood health service will benefit millions. It is underpinned by 120 new neighbourhood health centres by 2030, alongside the supercharging of community diagnostic centres, which will deliver faster, more accessible care, with over 100 sites open 12 hours a day, seven days a week. This massive expansion will transform community access for millions of patients, regardless of postcode.”
“I am not familiar with the details of that case, but if the hon. Lady writes to me I would be more than happy to take the issue up. These matters are determined by the ICBs and trusts, and the Government are not in the business of micromanaging what is happening out there in the field. We believe that people who are closest to our citizens are the best people to take those decisions, but we do expect the right outcomes. I would be happy to work with the hon. Lady on that basis.”
“This is a vital issue. Endometriosis is a serious challenge for so many women across our country, and I confirm that it is an integral part of the strategy. I am sure she will be pleased to see the outcome of that strategy as it moves forward.”
“On the subject of GP access, I am delighted that 75% of patients now say it is easy to contact their GP, which is a sizeable increase of 14 percentage points since July 2024—that is a really positive development that I am sure the hon. Lady welcomes. Turning to planning, it is very important that the integrated care board, the council and the developers are joined up together, and we need to ensure that happens. There is also the primary care utilisation and modernisation fund, which the hon. Lady’s constituents may be interested in.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question, and pay tribute to Vista for the outstanding work it is doing. Improving IT connectivity is a vital part of what we are doing, and the single point of access project is of relevance in that context. I would be more than happy if the hon. Gentleman wrote to me so that we can look at the issue he has raised.”
“In 2025-26, NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB was allocated £49.3 million of capital funding from the constitutional standards recovery fund announced by the Chancellor at the spending review, with the aim of supporting NHS performance across secondary and emergency care, including by supporting new capacity and productivity improvements in diagnostic services. It is part of over £6 billion of additional capital investment over five years across new diagnostic, elective and urgent care capacity, to deliver the improvements to the NHS that patients need and deserve, so that the NHS is there for them when they need it. I thank the hon. Member for securing this important debate. Question put and agreed to.”
“They provide access to vital tests, scans and checks, closer to home, for patients with busy working lives. We are setting clear diagnostic performance expectations for NHS providers. Our medium-term planning guidance sets out the ambition for improvement in performance against the diagnostic six-week wait constitutional standard, so that, by March 2029, no more than 1% of patients wait more than six weeks from referral for a diagnostic test. We have set the interim milestone that, by March 2027, no more than 20% of patients wait over six weeks. We recognise that significant improvements will be required in the performance of NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB. Performance is currently at 29.5%, as of November 2025, so there is clearly a long way to go.”
“We are committed to bringing more diagnostic services into community settings and to making healthcare more accessible to patients who might face barriers to hospital access, including those with mobility issues, caring responsibilities or limited transport options. We have committed, as part of our elective reform plan, to build up to five more CDCs as part of our £600 million capital investment for diagnostics in 2025-26. We are also working to ensure that more CDCs are open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to deliver more same-day tests and consultations, and an expanded range of tests. Since the Government came into office in July 2024, CDCs have delivered more than 10.9 million tests and scans. CDCs are a vital step in supporting our shift from hospital to community.”
“With financial support from NHS England’s national diagnostic programme, the trust has been able to purchase an additional scanner for this site. In the meantime, the Oak Park CDC continues to provide symptomatic mammography, ophthalmology assessment and peripheral neurophysiology assessments at the Oak Park community clinic site. The hon. Member asked about the possibility of temporary pop-up facilities to restore all services at Oak Park. I am informed that the ICB is working closely with Practice Plus Group to resolve this issue, and is looking for a solution to restore X-ray and echocardiography at the Oak Park community clinic for patients. Community provision of diagnostic services, such as those at the Oak Park clinic, are a central plank of our plan to make the NHS fit for the future.”
“The non-obstetric ultrasound service at the Oak Park community clinic was, until recently, provided as part of the community diagnostic centre. X-ray and echocardiography, while provided at the same site, are separate from the CDC operations. When the community diagnostic centre was first approved, Portsmouth hospitals university NHS trust commissioned Practice Plus Group to deliver non-obstetric ultrasound activity for the centre. This arrangement would utilise Practice Plus Group’s equipment and rooms, with sonographers employed by the trust delivering the tests. I can today confirm to the hon. Member and to the House that Portsmouth hospitals university NHS trust is preparing to recommence non-obstetric ultrasound at the Oak Park CDC this month.”
“I am aware that the ICB has communicated with all the referring organisations affected and is working to mitigate disruption, including reviewing alternative provision to ensure continuity of diagnostic services for patients in the Havant area. In the meantime, patients can be referred to Practice Plus Group services at the St Mary’s community health campus in Portsmouth for those diagnostic tests. The Queen Alexandra hospital in Cosham is also providing diagnostic services and is of course accessible to many patients across Havant. For some, it is likely that this will be more convenient and should be offered as a location for diagnostic tests. The hon. Member will be aware that the Oak Park community diagnostic centre is also located at the Oak Park community clinic.”
“Member has said, Practice Plus Group took the decision, with limited notice, to move equipment for non-obstetric ultrasound, X-ray and echocardiography away from Oak Park community clinic to St Mary’s community hospital in Portsmouth. With regard to the request to meet to discuss the circumstances of the suspension of these services at Oak Park clinic, I will ensure that a request is passed on to my colleague, the Minister for Secondary Care. I can inform the hon. Member that the closure took place because Practice Plus Group took the view that the lease no longer represented value for money. I can fully appreciate the disruption that this is causing in the Havant area for patients who now face longer travel times and inconvenience to receive care.”
“Reducing the waiting times for diagnostic tests is critical to achieving both our elective waiting time and cancer waiting time ambitions. Prior to this debate, the Department has received correspondence from GPs working in the hon. Member’s constituency on this very issue. I therefore completely understand his concerns and those of his constituents, and I hope that I can provide a helpful update on the situation and set out the steps being taken to resolve this issue. Until recently, a range of diagnostic services were provided at Oak Park community clinic. Services were delivered in partnership between the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight integrated care board and an independent healthcare provider, Practice Plus Group. As the hon.”
“I note that the policy lead for this area is the Minister for Secondary Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth). She is unable to be here today and sends her apologies, but I will report back to her and am sure that she will be more than happy to accept the request for a meeting to have further discussions. I congratulate the hon. Member for Havant (Alan Mak) on securing this debate on the provision of diagnostic services in Havant, specifically at Oak Park community clinic. This matter is very important to his constituents, and it resonates more broadly in communities right across our country. Diagnostic services are a critical part of our NHS. They are crucial for helping patients to get peace of mind about their symptoms or clarity on the next stage of their care.”
“As announced in our 10-year health plan, we will make it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practise in the NHS for a minimum period. We intend that minimum period to be at least three years. That will mean more NHS dentists, more NHS appointments and better oral health.”
“These reforms will make full use of the existing dental contract, to ensure that patients receive the right care at the right time, while creating clear incentives for dentists to provide more NHS care. As I say, they will kick in from 1 April. England has more than 38,000 registered dentists, of whom 10,700 are full-time equivalent general dentists delivering NHS care. As we take forward our reform programme to rebuild NHS dentistry, we are clear that strengthening the workforce is key to achieving our ambitions. This Government are committed to publishing a 10-year workforce plan to set out actions to create a workforce that is ready to deliver the transformed service set out in our overall 10-year health plan. We are taking steps to increase the capacity of our dental workforce.”
“By prioritising patients with the greatest needs and making more efficient use of dentists’ time, the changes will ensure that the NHS dentistry budget delivers value for money for the taxpayer. From 1 April, we will start to implement the reforms. For the first time, we are introducing provisions in the dental contract to embed urgent dental care appointments, making it easier for patients to access this care. We are increasing payments to dentists to deliver that care from £42 on average to £75 for that unit of dental activity. We are providing new treatment pathways for patients with complex treatment needs, paid at a set fee of around £250 or £700 depending on the pathway, while enabling and encouraging dentists to deliver more preventive care.”
“Talks are under way with the British Dental Association, and we are making progress on these matters. In addition to delivering fundamental contract reform over the longer term, we have already made significant progress through our 2026 reforms. We held a public consultation last summer on changes to the current NHS dental contract to address the pressing issues that dentists and dental teams said they were experiencing. The Government’s response, published in December, took account of the views of the dental sector as well as people with lived experience. Our reforms will utilise the existing dental contract to deliver the right care to the right people, while incentivising dentists to provide more NHS care.”
“Talks are under way, including with the British Dental Association, to scope our plans for potential changes. We remain open-minded and keen to consider how different payment models could best improve the delivery of care to dental patients. In reforming the dental contract, we want to focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention and rewarding dentists fairly. We also want to enable the whole dental team to work to the top of their capabilities. But reforming the dental contract is a significant challenge, and there are no quick fixes or easy answers. That is why in our 10-year health plan, we committed to fundamental reform of the dental contract by the end of this Parliament, with significant steps in 2026-27.”