Key Facts

• in England, gross expenditure increased by 53 per cent between 1997/98 and 2005/06 (£1,293m to £1,977m). The Stategic Health Authority (SHA) showing the greatest percentage increase in expenditure over this period was South Yorkshire at 69 per cent (from £37.2m to £62.7m).
  
  The SHA showing the least percentage increase in expenditure over this period was Hampshire and Isle of Wight at 30 per cent (from £41.9m to £54.4m)
• net or NHS-funded expenditure for England in 2005/06 accounted for 78 per cent of the gross cost, an increase from 1997/98 when the equivalent figure was 70 per cent. In 1997/98, the SHA with the greatest proportion of NHS-funded expenditure was North East London at 78 per cent. This is also the case in 2005/06, when the proportion was 83 per cent.
  
  The SHA with the lowest proportion of NHS funding (and therefore the highest proportion of funding from patients) in 1997/98 was Hampshire and Isle of Wight, with 64 per cent, and for 2005/06, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire with 71 per cent
• gross expenditure per head of population for England in 2005/06 was £39, an increase from 1997/98 when the equivalent figure was £27. In 2005/06, this measure was highest in the SHA of Cheshire and Merseyside at £50, an increase of 70 per cent from 1997/98. In 2005/06, gross expenditure per head of population was lowest in the SHA of Hampshire and Isle of Wight at £30, an increase of 25 per cent from 1997/98.

Summary

This one-off report gives local-level information on expenditure in England on NHS primary dental care provided within the General Dental Service (GDS) and Personal Dental Service pilots (PDS) for the financial years 1997/98 to 2005/06.

The source of this data is the payment processing records of the Dental Services Division (DSD) of the NHS Business Services Authority (formerly known as the Dental Practice Board). The DSD is responsible for transferring payments to dentists for the NHS dental services that they provide, on behalf of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs).

The data effectively represents cash payments in each year and is therefore not equivalent to the all England resource expenditure totals reported by the former Dental Practice Board and PCTs in their respective accounts for each financial year. However the data does represent the major elements of primary dental care expenditure between the years 1997/98 to 2005/06. It is the only GDS data that can be readily attributed to individual PCT, Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and parliamentary constituency areas. The data is not fully representative of all elements of expenditure on GDS and pilots for PDS; the scope of the data is explained in more detail in the notes on the interpretation of the data. (England resource expenditure totals as reported in the relevant financial year accounts are included in Annex 1 for information.)

This report presents information on ‘gross' and ‘net' expenditure. ‘Gross' expenditure refers to all payments; ‘net' expenditure reflects the cost of these payments to the NHS after the deduction of income from NHS dental charges paid by patients. Gross expenditure therefore relates to NHS and patient funding, and net expenditure relates to NHS funding only.