New Zealand welcomes new dental hub
A new dental hub has opened in the far north of New Zealand.
The new hub has been opened at the Kaitaia Hospital in Northland and will provide care for residents in the surrounding communities. The Kaitaia hub is the first of four to be built across the Northland and is part of a multi-million dollar investment scheme to improve standards of oral health in the region.
The programme to improve oral health in the region was approved in 2008 by the Ministers of Health and Finance and a total of 4.881 million dollars was pledged to improve access to services for children and adolescents. The scheme involves building four hubs and then operating outreach programmes in a system that imitates spokes extending from the centre of a wheel. Mobile dental units will be used to allow dentists to get out into the community and rural villages.
The increased investment has come as a consequence of figures showing that children and adolescents in the Northland region have the worst standards of oral health in the whole of New Zealand. The Northland District Health Board’s Public Dental Service has been working to improve access in the area and improve standards of education and treatment. Karen Roach, chief executive of the board, said that the new hub will help to provide valuable treatment, as well as information and advice, for children from Te Tai Tokerau.
The investment has been used to recruit highly trained staff, as well as being used to build clinics and buy mobile units. Now, for the first time in ten years, the health board has a full complement of dental staff and the team are looking forward to getting out into the community.
The three other hubs are set to open in the near future and will be located in Whangarei, Rawene and Kawakawa.
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