A brand new £402,000 dental training centre has opened near Durham.
Chief dental officer for England, Barry Cockcroft, was at the official opening at Bourne House dental education and training centre.
Mr Cockcroft told an audience of dental education officials from all over the country and North-East health chiefs that facilities such as this would help to ensure that NHS patients would have access to increasingly high-quality dentistry.
The Bourne House dental education and training centre is at the Mandale Business Park in Belmont, near Durham and includes a teaching facility of 15 work stations with cutting edge technology including a ‘phantom head room’ with realistic mannequins which give trainees the chance to practise their techniques in lifelike conditions.
Malcolm Smith, Postgraduate Dental Dean at the Northern Deanery said: ‘Having access to the finest equipment, technology and facilities will give dentists and practice teams excellent facilities in which to maximise their skills to ensure we as a region continue to deliver the very best patient care.
‘The centre will increase the opportunities available to all dental health professionals training in the north east.
‘The quality of dental training in the Northern Deanery is already recognised as excellent, but once again the NHS in the north east is putting its money where its mouth is and investing in the best training and development opportunities for staff.’
The centre is funded by the North East Strategic Health Authority.
