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Publication, Part of

Dental Working Hours, 2012-13 and 2013-14

Publication Date:
Date Range:
01 Apr 2012 to 31 Mar 2014

Summary

Dental Working Hours 2012-13 & 2013-14 provides information on dental working hours for 2012-13 and 2013-14 in England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland for primary care dentists who provided some NHS/Health Service treatment. Time-series comparisons are also provided from 2006-07 for England & Wales and from 2008-09 for Northern Ireland and Scotland.

This is the first year a UK report is being produced for the Dental Working Hours publication. In previous years three separate reports were produced throughout the year for individual countries; England & Wales at the end of August and Northern Ireland and Scotland in October.

The new structure consists of multiple releases of a UK report that includes data for all countries.

The first UK release on Friday 19 September 2014 was subtitled Initial Analysis and contained high level results for all countries in time to feed into their evidence submissions for the Review Body on Doctor's and Dentist's Remuneration (DDRB).

This has been followed by a second UK release on Friday 31 October 2014 subtitled Additional Analysis. 

A third release, subtitled Motivation Analysis: Experimental Statistics, was published on 27 August 2015 and there will be a final release in the series later in the reporting year.

The UK reports will contain all information previously produced in the three separate country reports, using the same methodology.

This report has been produced by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in consultation with the Dental Working Group which includes representatives from the UK Health Departments; NHS England; The British Dental Association; and The National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers.

Highlights

England & Wales

  • Overall, NHS dentists (full and part-time) reported working an average of 36.9 hours per week in dentistry, of which 26.3 hours (71.4 per cent) were devoted to NHS dental services. The remainder (28.6 per cent) was accounted for by private dentistry.
  • On average, Providing-Performer dentists worked more weekly hours (41.0 hours) than Performer Only dentists, at 35.7 hours. Providing-Performers reported spending 61.2 per cent of their time on NHS dentistry (25.1 weekly NHS hours); for Performer Only dentists this measure was 74.7 per cent (26.7 weekly NHS hours).
  • Overall, dentists reported that their time spent on dentistry was split by 78.2 per cent on clinical work and 21.8 per cent on non-clinical work (including administrative and management duties). Providing-Performer dentists reported spending 72.1 per cent of their time on clinical work, whereas for Performer Only dentists this proportion was 80.2 per cent.
  • The increases reported in average total and NHS weekly hours by Providing-Performer and Performer Only dentists between 2006/07 and 2011/12 tailed-off in 2012/13 and 2013/14. There were further decreases in the proportion of time spent on clinical work for both dental groups as well as average weeks of annual leave.

Northern Ireland

  • Overall, GDS dentists (full and part-time) reported working an average of 37.7 hours per week in dentistry, of which 28.2 hours (74.9 per cent) were devoted to Health Service dental services. The remainder (25.1 per cent) was accounted for by private dentistry.
  • On average, Principal Dentists worked more weekly hours (42.9 hours) than Associate Dentists, at 33.8 hours. Principals reported spending 71.6 per cent of their time on Health Service dentistry (30.7 Health Service weekly hours); for Associates this measure was 78.1 per cent (26.4 Health Service weekly hours).
  • Overall, dentists reported that their time spent on dentistry was split by 76.9 per cent on clinical work and 23.1 per cent on non-clinical work (which include administrative and management duties). Principal Dentists reported spending 69.1 per cent of their time on clinical work, whereas for Associate Dentists this proportion was 84.3 per cent.
  • The increases reported in average total and Health Service weekly hours by Principal and Associate dentists between 2008-09 and 2011-12 tailed-off in 2012-13 and 2013-14. There were further decreases in the proportion of time spent on clinical work for both dental groups.

Scotland

  • Overall, GDS dentists (full and part-time) reported working an average of 38.3 hours per week in dentistry, of which 29.6 hours (77.3 per cent) were devoted to NHS dental services. The remainder, 22.7 per cent, was accounted for by private dentistry.
  • On average, Principal Dentists worked more weekly hours (42.8 hours) than Associate Dentists (35.7 hours). Principals reported spending 70.7 per cent of their time on NHS dentistry (30.3 NHS weekly hours); for Associates this measure was 82.0 per cent (29.2 NHS weekly hours).
  • Overall, dentists reported that their time spent on dentistry was split into 79.7 per cent on clinical work and 20.3 per cent on non-clinical work (which include administrative and management duties). Principal Dentists reported spending 74.0 per cent of their time on clinical work, whereas for Associate Dentists this proportion was 83.8 per cent.
  • Between 2008-09 and 2013-14 there was a gradual increase in the average weekly hours of Principal and Associate dentists. However, there were further decreases in the proportion of time spent on clinical work for both dental groups.

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Last edited: 18 June 2020 4:34 pm