NHS Highland bosses have confirmed that a new £500,000 dental surgery is due to open in March next year, in the grounds of the Ian Charles Hospital in Grantown.

The breakthrough with a date finally confirmed has been welcomed, as the project is already 18 months behind schedule after being hit by a series of delays because of problems with access to the site, car parking and then the design of the building.

Once fully up and running, the new complex, boasting three dental surgeries, will have the potential to register as many as 3,000 NHS patients.

Fabrication work is well underway off-site and the modular building is expected to arrive at the hospital later this month, but will require fitting-out before it can be used.

The new Grantown Dental Practice is due to be handed over to NHS Highland in February, and health bosses hope the first patients will be seen within the month.

Garry Coutts, chairman of NHS Highland, said: "These things always take longer than you would like, but we are finally nearly there. It is good news that folk will soon be able to get NHS dental care in their own community.

"There are still charges for dental care on the NHS, of course, but people will know exactly how much their treatment will cost, and it should be a lot more affordable than the care being provided in the private sector."

Three dentists, three dental nurses and two receptionists are expected to be employed at the practice. Recruitment for two dentists is underway and the job adverts for the posts are due to go out soon. The practice's third surgery will be offered to a graduate dentist in August next year.

NHS Highland Dental Services development manager Alex Fraser commented: "Progress is being made on the Grantown project and we are really looking forward to seeing its doors open for the first patients in the spring."

She added: "We are also looking forward to attracting a graduate dentist, as a key part of our drive to increase access to NHS dentistry is to encourage newly qualified professionals to get a taste of living and working in the Highlands in the hope that they will make it home."

Danny Alexander, Lib Dem MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, described the development as "excellent, long awaited, good news for the strath".

"Hundreds of local families will benefit from this important investment, ensuring improved dental care for all," he said.

"NHS Highland are to be congratulated for making this happen."

The lack of access to NHS dentistry services is one of the most serious problems facing the North of Scotland, according to Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber MSP Fergus Ewing (SNP).

"It is a topic on which I have pressed NHS Highland for several years," he said.

"It is now encouraging to see that progress is expected, and I hope that the delays of the project have come to an end."

Dr Kate Adamson, chairwoman of Grantown's Health Improvement Group, is delighted there is now a prospective date for the opening of the dental practice.

She said: "We have been working with the health centre and with NHS Highland to ensure that the voice of potential users is heard. We know of a large number of people who have had no dental care and who will therefore benefit."

John Scott, who lives in Grantown, used to be registered with an NHS dentist in the town before the practice – like others locally – turned private. Mr Scott and his family signed up to the waiting list for the new Grantown facility around a year ago.

He commented: "The current private practice we use is great but it's better having something on our doorstep so we do not have to traipse through with the kids and miss school to get them to appointments.

"Although our two children already receive treatment on the NHS, it should make quite a difference financially when it comes to myself and my wife, Fran."

Around 3,800 NHS patients were registered at the Grantown Dental Centre when they stopped providing NHS treatment in summer, 2004. Most people had to either join a private dental plan, visit on a pay as you go basis or even be left without because of the lack of NHS dentistry in Badenoch and Strathspey.

A part-time visiting salaried dentist surgery has been run by NHS Highland at Aviemore Health Centre in recent years, but the waiting list is massively over-subscribed.

Funding for the Grantown scheme was confirmed over three years ago as part of wide-ranging plans by the then Labour-Lib Dem Scottish Executive to improve dental services across the Highlands.

The new practice was originally mooted for completion in spring, 2007, but concerns raised by planners over the building's design led to the project becoming protracted.

To the anger of those on the local waiting lists, Highland Council planning officials even recommended that the application should be refused as they deemed the proposed flat roof for the building to be unacceptable for a development within the Cairngorms National Park.

Dave Fallows, Highland councillor for Badenoch and Strathspey, said: "I'm absolutely delighted that at long last the dental facility will become a reality.

"The battle to get planning permission was hard fought, and the ability of local residents to avail themselves of NHS dental facilities will fully vindicate the decision."

Around 1,400 people have already signed up for the proposed Grantown surgery.

* Registrations will not start until the new practice opens. Anyone who would like to register is asked to call the NHS Highland Dental Helpline on 0845 644 2271. Patients on the list will be sent letters inviting them to appointments once the new facility is in operation.

Although not accepting paying NHS adult registrations, local private practices have still been accepting children.

musgrove_g@spp-group.com

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend