New Dental Clinic will Ease Pressure on Waiting Lists on Skye
A new dental clinic has opened in Portree, providing relief for hundreds of people on the Isle of Skye.
Currently, there are more than two thousand people on the waiting list and some people have been faced with a 250 mile round trip to see a dentist. The waiting list accounts for quarter of the population of the island.
Before the new clinic opened, dental care was provided by a sole surgery at Dunvegan Health Centre and a temporary clinic in Bayfield, Portree.
The new £1.2 million clinic has three separate surgeries and a clinic room to offer oral health education sessions. The team from Portree will relocate to the new surgery at the end of January and the clinic will officially open its doors to patients on the 30th January. An opening ceremony is scheduled to take place in March.
A spokeswoman from NHS Highland said that it had been difficult to recruit dentists, as the location is so rural. However, a full-time dentist started work on the island last April and a new part-time dentist will be joining the clinic in March. When a fourth dentist has joined the clinic, the health trust will start tackling the waiting list.
Patients who have been waiting the longest will be given priority and invited to register at the clinic.
Dentist Graham Smith said that the team was excited to start work at the new purpose-built facility.
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