CAPITA'S MANAGEMENT OF THE NATIONAL DENTAL PERFORMERS' LIST

That this House notes with concern the reports of Capita's mismanagement of the National Dental Performers' List; understands that any dentist who wants to practise general NHS dentistry in England needs to be granted a Dental Performer number; is concerned that since the management of the list was contracted to Capita in September 2015 the service has experienced severe delays in processing applications, with hundreds of dentists having to wait months for a decision, unable to earn a living and serve NHS patients; further notes that these delays might threaten the financial viability of many dental practices as they struggle to fill the vacancies in their practices while applicants wait for their Performer Numbers; believes that this situation is not only stressful due to the potential loss in earnings for the dentists affected but has also deprived hundreds of thousands of NHS patients of an opportunity to access dentistry services; hopes NHS England continues to support Capita in recovering a normal service; and urges the Government to consider whether Capita's failures make it appropriate for NHS England to terminate its contract for the running of the National Dental Performers' List and other primary care support services.