Kirklees committee to vote on funding for dental scheme for the homeless and vulnerable
Members of the Kirklees Council district committee for Mirfield and Dewsbury are preparing to take a vote which could provide a dental scheme aimed at the homeless and vulnerable with thousands of pounds’ worth of funding.
The Council members will decide whether to allocate funding worth £7,060 to a pilot scheme, which will provide homeless people, refugees, and the poor with free dental treatment. The cost of the running the scheme will be £12,260.
The TEETH project will bring dental care to people who cannot afford to see a dentist. There are plans to make treatment available at food banks, community centres and hostels if funding for the scheme is given the go ahead.
The pilot project is based on a similar scheme, which was set up in Dewsbury. The Real Junk Food Project was launched after staff working at hostels and food banks found that people were unable to eat the food provided for them as a result of severe dental issues.
The TEETH project is run in association with Dentaid, and it aims to reconnect vulnerable people with the NHS. Volunteer dentists will make use a fully-equipped mobile dental unit and a range of urgent and routine dental services will be on offer. The provisional plan is to host two sessions per month for six months, and locations have been chosen based on the places that vulnerable people visit. If you don’t have a fixed address, it can be difficult to register with a dentist, so people are put off trying to go to dental clinics. If there’s a service that comes to them, it could have a really positive impact.
A decision is expected on Thursday 23rd February.
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