Further Delays to Thurso Dental Unit

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The opening of a new dental unit in Thurso has been delayed and the practice, which is based at Dunbar Hospital, won’t open until next year.

The new £1.2 million unit, which stands next to the Dunbar Hospital, was completed earlier this year but contractual delays have prevented it from opening on time. NHS Highland had hoped that the practice would be open to patients by now, but there have been delays in typing up the contract and the unit will not operate until next year.

The unit will be run by dentist, John Barry in the first contract of its kind in Scotland. Mr Barry, an independent practitioner, will manage the unit on the condition that at least 80% of his income comes from NHS treatment. The unit will house four surgeries and there will be around 6,000 places available once the surgeries are fully staffed.

Mr Barry said that finalising the terms of the lease had taken much longer than he anticipated and said that the surgery would not be open to patients until January 9th. The opening of the new surgery will help to reduce the waiting list, but Mr Barry warned that it could take some time to work through the list, which currently contains around 4,600 names. He said that it would take around a year to work through the list and confirmed that patients would be treated according to their position in the waiting list.

Alex Fraser, dental service development manager at NHS Highland, said that the new unit would make a massive difference to the local people.

 

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