These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (General Dental Services) Regulations 1992 (S.I.1992/661) (“the principal Regulations”) which regulate the terms upon which general dental services are provided under the National Health Service Act 1977.

Regulation 6 provides for the establishment of a list of those dentists providing treatment to patients under general anaesthesia as part of general dental services. This includes a right of appeal to the National Assembly for Wales where a dentist is denied inclusion in a general anaesthesia list because a Health Authority has determined that his premises are not proper and sufficient for the provision of dental treatment under general anaesthesia.

Regulation 5 introduces a similar right of appeal to the National Assembly for Wales for a dentist who is denied inclusion in a dental list because a Health Authority has determined that his premises are not proper and sufficient for the provision of general dental services.

Regulation 7 amends Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations which sets out the terms of service for dentists employed in the National Health Service. The amendment provides that treatment under general anaesthesia may not be provided unless the dentist is on the Health Authority’s general anaesthesia list, that general anaesthesia may not form part of treatment that mixes general dental services and private dentistry, and that dentists on the general anaesthesia list must permit inspections of their premises. It also substitutes new categories of those who are permitted to administer general anaesthesia for the purposes of general dental services.

Regulation 7 also amends the terms of service within Schedule 1 so that a dentist is required to ask to see evidence in support of a claim that a patient is entitled to a free dental examination or any report on such an examination.