Dental services in Colville Ward, Kensington and Chelsea, are set to receive a boost, with targeted initiatives aimed at improving access for children and young people. However, access to dental services for children in the ward is currently low, with only 33.4% accessing dental care in 2022/23, ranking it 3rd lowest in North West London Integrated Care Board (ICB).
The North West London Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (NWL JHOSC) discussed dentist commissioning and children's dental health at a meeting on Tuesday. A report presented to the committee highlighted concerns about the accessibility, equity, and effectiveness of dental services for children and young people across North West London. The full report is available online. Public reports pack 09th-Sep-2025 10.00 North West London Joint Health Overview Scrutiny Committ
The report identified Colville as one of eleven wards across North West London that should have additional NHS dental activity. The other wards identified were Stonebridge, Harlesden, Church Street, Barnhill, Westbourne/Harrow Road, Heston West/ Cranford, Feltham West/Bedfont, Acton Central, Wormholt and White Green, and Roxeth City/ Shepherd's Bush.
The report also noted that while North West London is one of the highest performing integrated care boards nationally, general dental services do not specifically prioritise children over adults.
The selection of these wards was based on several criteria, including:
- Demographic factors such as deprivation, the availability of general medical practices and schools.
- Oral health data, specifically the prevalence of tooth decay in children.
- Existing access to dental services, considering factors like dental access for children and adults, the availability and location of current dental practices, contract size of existing providers, the ratio of dental practices per 10,000 population, the number of UDAs (Units of Dental Activity) commissioned per head, and the performance of current dental providers.
To address these issues, the Integrated Care Board (ICB) committed funding in February 2025 to two dental services pilots: targeted access for children across North West London, and targeted support to access dental care for people living in emergency or temporary accommodation.
The children's pilot, developed in collaboration with Public Health and dental professionals, will run for two years (2025-26 and 2026-27) and will:
- Test and develop targeted dental pathways into local NHS dental practices for children and young people, particularly those in Core20Plus areas and areas with identified higher oral health need.
- Through the selected practices, provide longer appointments and targeted preventative care.
- Commission the selected dental practices to work with Family/Children's Hubs, schools, early years services and primary/community care providers.
- Ensure the commissioned practices provide dental champions to support engagement and insight gathering with specific outreach sessions into family/children hubs working alongside partners to embed a MECC approach.
- Improve community messaging and access through integrated communications, training and signposting.
The 'MECC approach' (Making Every Contact Count) will be implemented through dental champions who will engage with family and children's hubs. This involves improving community messaging and access through integrated communications, training, and signposting.
The goal is to improve access, improve oral health, and embed prevention into everyday interactions across health, education and community settings.
The report also included a map of existing dental providers across North West London ICB by local authority, and noted that patients are likely to travel to practices which best suit them, which could include a closer practice in a local authority outside of North West London ICB.
