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GP Patient Survey Dental Statistics; January to March 2014, England

In January to March 2014, 1.3 million adults were asked about their views on NHS dentistry. Participants were asked if they had tried to obtain an appointment with an NHS dentist and if so, whether it was with a practice they had been to before and if they had been successful. They were also asked what their overall experience was of NHS dentistry. Patients who hadn’t tried to obtain an NHS dentist in the previous two years were asked to select the main reason why they hadn’t tried.

The results from the survey responses are presented here at national (England), regional and Area Team level.

Main results:
• 1.3 million adults were contacted, 460,000 replies were received, with a response rate of 35%.
• Of all respondents asked, just over three fifths (61%) tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the last two years.
• Of the group of respondents who had tried to get an appointment;

  • 84% rated their NHS dental experience as positive (48% very good and 36% fairly good);
  • 93% were successful in getting an appointment, a success rate of 95% when excluding the ‘can’t remember’ category
  • Respondents who were younger adults, from ethnic minorities, or who had not been to the practice before were less successful in getting an NHS dental appointment.
  • The remaining two fifths (39%) of adults who did not try to get an appointment with an NHS dentist in the last two years, just over half had never tried to get an NHS appointment and the remaining had tried but over two years ago.

•Of those who hadn’t tried to get an appointment:

  • 38% mentioned private dentistry as the reason for not trying to get an NHS appointment; 21% prefer private dentistry and 17% stayed when their dentist moved from NHS to private.
  • More than a fifth (21%) of those adults who did not try stated they had “not needed to visit the dentist” as the reason for not attending.
  • 13% of the respondents who didn’t try to get an NHS dental appointment gave their reason as “I didn’t think I could get an NHS dental appointment”.

The accompanying report below provides a summary of the results, at a national and regional level and gives comparisons to the previous two years, and further breakdowns of these figures can be found in the tables below.

Summary Report

GP Patient Survey Dental Results Summary (368KB,PDF)

Download data

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 (XLS, 217KB)

GP Patient Survey Dental Results Contents

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Question Responses

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Table 1

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Table 2

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Table 3

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Table 4

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Table 5

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Table 6

GP Patient Survey Dental Results January to March 2014 Table 7

Pre-release Access List

Jan to Mar 14 GPPS Dental Results Pre-release list

 For full results of the GP Patient Survey and the questions used, see the GP Patient Survey.