NHS to publish waiting list data for community dental services

NHS England has told community dental services to start submitting waiting list data from this month on the number of adults and children waiting for assessment and treatment.  

These services see people with learning or physical disabilities, severe anxiety or other complex needs. 

These clinics are usually only accessed only by referral and can involve patients waiting months or even years, according to information that until now, has only been made available by parents or patients speaking up, or via Freedom of Information requests (especially in recent years by the Liberal Democrats).

NHSE today acknowledged 'longstanding concerns about the lack of data at national level to understand waiting times for assessment and treatment, for vulnerable adults and children'. It said new requirements to submit monthly data would contribute to:

• visibility of national, comparable, CDS data on waiting times for both adults and children
• oversight and understanding of any health inequalities
• data to support oral health needs assessments.

Back in December 2023 our national partners Healthwatch England urged then dentistry minister Andrea Leadsom to take action on long CDS waits in a briefing note sent and also raised concerns with the incoming Labour government last year about Healthwatch concerns at lack of transparency on service levels for these vulnerable groups.

The first monthly data set is due to be published in the week beginning 6 October 2025.