Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN01736i
To:
- NHS primary care dental contract holders
cc.
- NHS England regions:
- regional directors of primary care and public health commissioning
- Integrated care boards:
- directors of primary care
Dear colleagues,
National dental workforce collection – move to annual collection
We would like to thank all dental contractors who completed the workforce collection returns across October 2023 and April 2024. This data has provided valuable insights, and high-level findings from the collection are published here: Statistics » Dental Workforce
In our letters and guidance, we had explained that the dental workforce collection would be a biannual collection with data to be completed by all General Dental Services (GDS) and Personal Dental Services (PDS) contract holders. To balance the benefits of collecting data with reducing the burden on practices, we will now move to an annual data collection starting in January 2025.
The next workforce collection will open on 20 January 2025 and close at midnight on 17 February 2025. As this is the first annual collection, with data already collected across January to 31 March 2024, the collection will cover April to December 2024.
Thereafter, all future collections will cover a 12-month period from the 1 January to 31 December. We have further refined the questions, and this is detailed within the associated guidance. While the collection period is changing, we intend to make meaningful comparisons where questions remain the same.
As previously communicated, the completion of this collection remains a requirement for all GDS contracts and PDS agreements in England. Failure to complete this workforce collection will result in the issue of a remedial notice, at which point contractors will have a further 28 days to comply.
Thank you in advance for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
Ali Sparke, Director for Pharmacy, Optometry, Dentistry and the NHS Standard Contract, NHS England