The Impact of Age and Deprivation on NHS Payment Claims for Domiciliary Dental Care in England

Domiciliary dental care provides care to patients who are unable to attend dental clinics for a variety of reasons. Objective: This research analyses NHS payment claim data for domiciliary dental care in England to identify any variations by area and determine whether age or deprivation are associated with levels of domiciliary care provided. Methods: Publicly available data from the NHS Business Services Authority and demographic data from additional public datasets were linked to assess the variation in claims made for NHS domiciliary activity across England. Associations with factors such as the proportion of older people and deprivation were investigated using correlation, univariable and multivariable regression models. Results: There was substantial variation by area in the number of NHS payment claims made for domiciliary activity and a statistically significant but very weak positive correlation between the population of each area and the number of domiciliary payment claims made. Correlation, univariable and multivariable analyses demonstrated positive but weak associations between area deprivation measures and the number of claims per population. There was little evidence of an association between proportions of older adults and numbers of domiciliary claims per population. Conclusion: As older and more deprived populations are those most likely to require domiciliary dental care, these results suggest that access to services is variable and not always based upon need. This highlights a potential need to reconsider the criteria upon which this type of dental care is offered and the commissioning of these services in different localities.