Isle of Man patients face delayed treatment

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The shortage of dentists at two practices on the Isle of Man has left thousands of patients facing delays on necessary treatments and routine check-ups.

The two NHS Douglas dental clinics; the Central Community Health Centre and the Hillside Dental Clinic, have suffered a shortage of dentists since May of this year and it had been hoped that patients wouldn’t need to face long delays. However, this has since proven to be the case as health chiefs have admitted to problems being expressed by patients at the Hillside practice.

Health Minister David Anderson, speaking at a press conference, said; ‘The department is committed to securing the future of NHS dental services for the people of the Isle of Man and I wish to reassure patients that we are working hard to do this. I need to make it quite clear that this is not a cut in service. It is simply a matter of presently being unable to fill vacant posts, which sadly is a familiar problem throughout the UK.’

One of the five dentists that left the practices in May has been replaced, leaving only nine dentists in the salaried NHS service, with four in the community dental services. It is thought that over twenty-one thousand patients will now be affected.

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