Summary

This report provides information on dental working hours for dentists in England and Wales in 2008/09 and 2009/10 who performed some NHS activity. Information on average weekly hours, weekly NHS hours, weeks of annual leave and the division of time between NHS and private dentistry, and clinical and non-clinical work, is presented.

The results are presented for Providing-Performer dentists (those who held a contract with a Primary Care Trust or Local Health Board and also performed dental services) and for Performer Only dentists (those who performed dental services but did not hold such a contract).

This report was produced by The NHS Information Centre for health and social care, and The Dental Working Group.

Key facts

• Overall, NHS dentists (full and part-time) reported working an average of 37.2 hours per week in dentistry, of which 27.2 hours (73.1 per cent) were devoted to NHS dental services. The remainder, 26.9 per cent, was accounted for by private dentistry.
• On average, Providing-Performer dentists worked more weekly hours (40.9 hours) than Performer Only dentists, at 35.4 hours. Providing-Performers reported spending 65.1 per cent of their time on NHS dentistry (26.6 weekly NHS hours); for Performer Only dentists this measure was 77.8 per cent (27.5 weekly NHS hours).
• Male dentists worked more weekly hours (39.7 hours on average) than female dentists (33.3 weekly hours). Men reported spending 70.6 per cent of their time on NHS dentistry, equivalent to 28.0 weekly NHS hours; for women this proportion was 78.0 per cent (26.0 weekly NHS hours).
• Overall, dentists reported that their time spent on dentistry was split by 85.0 per cent on clinical work and 15.0 per cent on non-clinical work (including administrative and management duties).