Health minister says new East Anglia dental school is a ‘no for now’
Health minister, Will Quince, has dealt campaigners for a new dental school in East Anglia a blow, stating that the plans are a “no for now.”
At a recent debate in the House of Commons, MPs from the region, including Jerome Mayhew, the MP for Broadland, proposed opening a new dental school at the University of East Anglia (UAE). The Conservative MP stressed that access issues are deepening in the East of England and suggested that offering dental training programmes could increase dentist numbers.
Mr Mayhew said that he had been in direct contact with the university and was reassured by the response from the medical school and the regional training hospital, NNUH. One of the primary reasons to consider the plans, he added, was to encourage more dentists to work in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. The ratio of dentists to patients is well below the national average and patients are struggling to get appointments. Around 40% of doctors and other health professionals who train at UAE stay in the area after graduating.
Mr Quince said that he recognised the severity of the situation, but for now, plans to open a dental school will not proceed. He encouraged ongoing communication, stating that “it is a no, but it is a no for now.”
The health minister said that opening a new dental school would take “several years” and would “not influence service provision in the short term.” He also added that there was no guarantee that a new training programme would support “sustained retention of dentists or support staff in the area.” Mr Quince said that, for now, the primary aim is to boost retention within the NHS, encourage career development within the system and make “better use of the full dental team.”
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