Chamber and committees

That is positive. Ms McElrath, would you like to come in?

Has that survey been published yet?

Where should we go from here? The Government has said in its response that it plans to continue the blended system of payment and it lists all the different things that that comprises, including

“fee per item, capitation, allowance and direct reimbursement payment”.

Should we move to something that is more like a GP system, in which dentists are paid a much larger amount?

Okay—thanks very much.

I will ask a final question. A new thing that has come up is vaping. Professor Conway, is there any evidence that vaping is causing harm to, especially, young people’s mouths?

That is great.

Can I clarify a couple of points, based on that answer? Are the two new practices taking NHS patients? Are they mixed practices that will do some NHS work and some private?

On the recruitment point, who sets the wages and salaries for dental staff? Is it each practice or is there any uniformity?

Should we change the whole system? To judge from your submission, there is quite a desire to change it in Shetland, partly because you have only one private practice, if I understand correctly. To start with NHS Shetland, would you bring the whole service into the public sector and get rid of the private sector?

I should start with a confession: I go to the dentist when they send me a reminder, and my dentist has stopped sending reminders, so I have not been to the dentist since before Covid. I am interested in whether that is a common experience.

I will move on to my main point. Professor Conway talked about treatment claims being at 70 per cent and fillings being at 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels. Is there a measure of people’s dental health? Does somebody get 100 people in a room, look at their mouths and see whether their dental health has deteriorated over the past three years? I understand that there is a measure of decay in children.

How should we change the system? Should it become more like general practice? There is virtually no private GP work—it is all in the NHS.

Okay. We will not go there. [Laughter.]