| The Scottish Executive yesterday resolved the problem at Dundee Dental School by pledging a one-off emergency funding package of £4.5 million to meet the demand.
The problem arose after a rise in applications for the academic year of 40% and a course acceptance jump of 30%. This led to would-be students being offered £2000 to delay the start of their dental course.
The package will allow the dental school to enrol 97 students this year, 30 more than its target of 67.
“I’m very pleased we came to an arrangement with the university,” said Mr Kerr. “I think it will give us more dentists, which is what we all want.
“I think it further ensures that whilst there are pressures on dentistries just now, which I fully realise, it will give us the chance to address those pressures in future and I look forward to those qualifying working in Scotland.”
Scotland is facing a dental health crisis with patients facing ever-increasing difficulties when it comes to finding an NHS dentist willing to take them on.
It is estimated that only half of all adults in Scotland are registered with an NHS dentist and one in eight Scots has not visited a dentist in the past five years.
The Executive will pay for the clinical training of the enlarged students’ intake of this year during their five-year degree course at Dundee Dental School, including one-year NHS vocational training after graduation. The university will meet the academic costs associated with the extra teaching resources. |
