Dental Recruitment Process Under Way On The Isle Of Man
The process to recruit more dentists on the Isle of Man is under way; health bosses have revealed that more dentists will be interviewed this month in a push to improve access to NHS dental services on the island.
Health minister David Anderson said that progress was being made and more candidates will be interviewed this month; he added that part of the problem, which is contributing to waiting lists on the island, is a lack of dentists being trained in the UK. Mr Anderson said that there has been a failure to train a sufficient number of dentists in the UK and this had affected the island, with some patients forced to join waiting lists.
Mr Anderson added that the Health Department has worked hard to try and resolve the issue and they have recently launched a recruitment campaign to try and bring more dentists to the island. Health ministers have also negotiated additional working hours for dentists already working on the island to enable more patients have routine check-ups.
The shortage of dentists on the island resulted in a temporary suspension of check-ups in the middle of January; health bosses made the move to ensure that dentists were freed up to deal with patients who required urgent dental care. Additional working hours will allow dentists to start providing routine check-ups again, with priority going to those who have been waiting the longest.
Three locum dentists have now been employed to deal with the backlog of patients and health bosses are hoping to announce new appointments in the future.
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