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Dental school milestone will increase NHS access

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The Peninsula Dental School has been given the go-ahead to build a new addition to its educational facilities – increasing NHS access for patients in Plymouth.

The latest dental educational facility is to be built in Derriford and will enable patients who live in the north of the city to be treated by students training to be dentists.

The new facility will join three others – Exeter and Devonport (Plymouth) which are up and running, and Truro which is due to open at the end of this year.

An artist's impression

Plymouth City Council's planning committee gave the nod to outline plans for the development  and Professor Liz Kay, dean of the dental school is delighted.

She said: ‘We are delighted that the application has been accepted and it represents an important milestone in the ongoing development of the Peninsula Dental School. Our students are already interacting with NHS patients in Exeter and at Devonport in the south of Plymouth – we look forward to being able to provide similar services to people in the north of the city from our new facility in Derriford.'

The Peninsula Dental School already has four educational facilities in Devon and Cornwall: a £10million site in Devonport, which opened a month ago and serves the south of the city, one in Exeter and another building now being finished off in Truro.

There is also a simulation facility in Portland Square, Plymouth.

Councillors voted unanimously to grant the outline application for the project – which includes the dental school, associated access arrangements and car-parking facilities.

A detailed application – which will include the designs of the new facility – is expected to be submitted later this year and the school is aiming for the opening of the new facility in spring 2011.

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Ah, yes, the good old mantra 'access'. As I have pointed-out previously, access is by no means the complete answer. It seems the new dental school will provide lots of NHS access to undergraduates - every dental school does, of course. Peninsula will I am sure strive to train dentists to the very highest standards possible. When these keen young dentists see exactly what ismeant by UDA's, clawback, and all the rest, however - exactly how long will they wish to remain 'NHS' dentists? Because they will want to try to work in an an environment which allows them to maintain the standards they have learned - and this may very well mean they don't want to provide the sort of 'access' with which the CDO and the politicians seem so obsessed. The discerning patients, BTW, already appreciate that 'access' to a UDA-hunter bearing forceps is not always the best option for their long-term dental health.

Posted by drstephenmorris 2/6/09 at 14:45