Kettering General Hospital announces £1.8 million project to expand maxillofacial and orthodontic departments
Health chiefs have confirmed funding worth £1.8 million for a new maxillofacial and orthodontic unit at Kettering General Hospital.
The new facility will be approximately double the size of the existing unit and the department will be kitted out with the latest equipment, including a cone beam CT scanner, a 3D printer and an intra-oral scanner capable of capturing digital images of the teeth and the inside of the mouth.
The hospital has run maxillofacial and orthodontic clinics from its outpatient department for over 40 years, and the new unit will allow for expansion, as well as modernisation. The unit currently treats around 12,500 patients per year, but there will be scope for numbers to increase once the new facility is up and running.
News of the investment has been welcomed by clinical lead for orthodontics, Mr Julian O’Neill. The team has made the best of the facilities available for many years, but has long expressed a desire to operate in a larger, more modern space, which is more patient-friendly.
The new unit will house two surgical suites instead of one in addition to two orthodontic rooms, one trauma room, two consultation rooms, a children’s waiting area, a recovery suite for patients who have had minor surgery and a health and wellbeing room.
Work started on the project in October and is due to be completed by the end of May 2019.
