What do the Welsh public understand about NHS dental services, what do they think it could look like, and what are their priorities? A qualitative study

Background and Context

NHS General Dental Services in Wales are being changed. To ensure dental services meet users’ needs, we asked what the public think about how these services could look, in the future, and what their priorities for them are.

Aims

The aim of this study was to ask what the Welsh public understand about Welsh NHS dental services. Specific areas explored were:

• What should Welsh NHS dental services look like?
• Understanding about dental services and the dental team (beyond The Dentist & Dental Hygienist).
• Views on skill mixing in dentistry. Do you always need to see The Dentist?
• Attitudes towards, and needs for, oral health self-management.

• What are the priorities for dental care services in Wales?

Strategy

We used interviews and focus group style workshops, across two phases between November 2023 and May 2024, to explore the study objectives. The collected information was analysed for repeated words and phrases to identify key themes and insights using a well-respected software package.

Outcomes

Forty-four people, with diverse backgrounds, from across Wales took part.

In summary, we found that the Welsh public: 

• Had limited knowledge of the dental team and their roles
• Aren’t clear on how and when to access emergency dental services
• Are supportive of increased skill-mix and multi-disciplinary approaches to their general dental care, but awareness and education are needed
• Are happy with solutions offered by ‘tele-dentistry’ (online or remote service), if this is delivered in an optional and inclusive way
• Would like more education and support to be more active in oral health self-management

Impact

This report will inform Welsh Government plans to change NHS Dental Services. It will give them the views of the Welsh Public on how they’d like to see NHS Dental Services change, including the use of new technologies.

The report should help both NHS Dental Teams and Welsh Government, to deliver future NHS Dental Services in ways that the Welsh Public are supportive of.

Read the full report here.

Lay Summary Author: Tony Cope, Public Partnership Group Member