The initial announcement of the dental recovery plan claimed that its aim was to “significantly expand access so that everyone who needs to see a dentist will be able to”.51 However, that ambition was never aligned to the actual targets of the plan, as an additional 1.5 million courses of treatment would have left overall delivery in 2024–25 around 2.6 million courses of treatment short of pre–pandemic levels.52 DHSC confirmed this to us, saying that “even had all the aspirations of this plan...

The initial announcement of the dental recovery plan claimed that its aim was to “significantly expand access so that everyone who needs to see a dentist will be able to”.51 However, that ambition was never aligned to the actual targets of the plan, as an additional 1.5 million courses of treatment would have left overall delivery in 2024–25 around 2.6 million courses of treatment short of pre–pandemic levels.52 DHSC confirmed this to us, saying that “even had all the aspirations of this plan been achieved, we would not have got to a point where everyone could see a dentist”.53 DHSC and NHSE’s modelling Type: conclusion | Number: 18 | Response status: partially_accepted Government response: 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 2.2 NHSE is carrying out analysis of the main initiatives which were planned to result in additional appointments being delivered: the New Patient Premium, Golden Hellos and the uplift to the min