Credit: Rafael Juárez/Pixabay 

The NHS has launched a campaign to encourage more dentists to provide patients with online information and to improve the processes that enable them to do so.

An update to the NHS dental contract introduced this summer requires dentists to provide regular updates to information provided for current and potential patients via the NHS.UK website. In a recent written parliamentary question, the Green Party’s sole MP Caroline Lucas asked the Department of Health and Social Care “what steps [it] plans to take to monitor compliance with the requirement for dentists to update their details on a quarterly basis [and] when it he plans for this requirement to be in place”.

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In response, James Morris – who was a junior minister at the DHSC prior to new prime minister Liz Truss’s opening reshuffle last week – said that NHS Digital is already working with dentists to encourage them to provide more data digitally. The tech agency is also working on making it easier for updates to be made.

“NHS Digital has launched email campaigns to encourage dental practices to update NHS.UK profiles and is improving the process for practices to provide this information online,” Morris said. “Compliance will be monitored quarterly through National Health Service dental contracts and we aim for this to be implemented by the end of 2022.”