A £6 million refurbishment of Liverpool’s dental hospital has opened, making it ‘word class’ according to health secretary Andy Burnham.
The MP officially opened the hospital on Monday (23 November) following the milti-million investment to improve dental education and services.
The Liverpool University Dental Hospital is run by the Trust and the University of Liverpool and provides specialist dental services for the local community as well as a teaching facility for 400 dental students.
The new specialist clinical and teaching facility was the final phase to bring facilities up to a world class standard for patients and dental students.
It has a new minor oral surgery area and dedicated facilities for patients with special needs and those who are medically compromised, this includes special wheelchair facilities and sedation suites.
The upper three floors include laboratories that are capable of supporting world class research into the prevention and treatment of dental diseases. These integrated facilities should enable scientific developments at Liverpool to impact directly on teaching and patient care.
During his visit, Mr Burnham said: ‘It’s great to see the new facilities recently unveiled by the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust. They are world class and some of the best in the country. The investment in patient services means the Trust now boasts excellent dental care for patients with special needs as well as top class educational facilities for the dentists of the future.’
Judith Greensmith, chair of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘We were delighted to welcome the Secretary of State and show him the innovative dental facilities we now have for the benefit of patients with special needs. With a major investment the hospital now boasts some of the best dental facilities in the country.’
Professor Sir Howard Newby, vice chancellor of the University of Liverpool, said: ‘The hospital has made significant contributions to health, research and education for more than 100 years and today is home to one of Europe’s largest facilities for training dentists. This new development will help build on its pioneering history and bring researchers and clinicians together for the benefit of patient care.’
The dental hospital provides a range of specialist services for the local community including minor oral surgery, restorative dentistry, paediatric dentistry, orthodontics, oral surgery, oral medicine and special care dentistry.
Mr Burnham also heard about the plans to build a new hospital to replace the existing Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
