Plymouth Council Appealing to Stop Dental School Split
Plymouth City Council has launched a bid to try and stop Plymouth and Exeter universities splitting the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
The two universities confirmed that they wanted to split the Peninsula school at the beginning of the year. However, Plymouth City Council is trying to fight the split and have asked for a consultancy period, which will put the brakes on the split for the time being.
Representatives from the universities claimed that splitting the school would create more places, but Plymouth City Council has aired concerns over the future of the medical and dental schools.
Councillor Lynda Bower said that members of the health and adult social care overview and scrutiny panel had concerns about the short-notice and along the long-term future of two separate medical schools so close to each other. The division would mean there would be a medical school in Exeter and a medical and dental school in Plymouth, with just 40 miles separating the two universities.
The proposals to split the schools have already been criticised by Devon Local Medical Committee, with members branding the proposal a “disaster”.
The proposals must be agreed by the General Medical and Dental Councils, the NHS and the Higher Education Funding Council for England before the split could go ahead.
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