York Guides

Mike Waites

Health Correspondent
PLANS to set up a new dental school to tackle the crisis in NHS dentistry could be scuppered by a dire shortage of academics to train new recruits, it was claimed yesterday.

The Government has invited bids from universities to set up a new school as part of plans to increase the number of dentists in training by an unprecedented 25 per cent.

Hull and York universities have jointly submitted one plan which its supporters hope would have a huge impact on dental shortages in the region, which have left thousands without access to routine NHS care.

But a survey published yesterday shows a dramatic drop of six per cent in the number of dental academics in just 12 months between 2003 and 2004.

Dental and medical school chiefs, who carried out the study, described the fall as staggering.

They add: "Given the current crisis in recruitment and retention faced by the existing dental schools, it is difficult to imagine how the Government's plan for a new dental school will be realised."

They say the Government own dental experts have recognised that there is vital need for a strong academic base in dentistry and that the Department of Health's plans to expand dental services are "critically dependent" upon it.
Increasing the number of students in training is a key demand of the Yorkshire Post's Stop the Rot campaign which is calling for rapid action by the Government to sort out the crisis in NHS dentistry amid evidence which suggests many dentists stay in the area where they train.

Dental schools in Sheffield and Leeds have announced they are significantly expanding the number of students they train from September by more than two thirds.

The Hull-York bid would create a school to eventually teach 450 students but every member of staff would need to be recruited from scratch.

The report by the Council of Heads of Medical Schools and Council of Heads and Deans of Dental Schools also uncovered a fall in the number of academics teaching doctors despite an increase in the number of student doctors of 40 per cent since 2000.

They call for the Government to take urgent action to make teaching more attractive – otherwise the situation would continue to worsen which they claim would compromise patient care and damage education of doctors and dentists of the future.

"Clinical academics are a vital component of the workforce," they added. It was essential to have mechanisms to support training in all specialities

The Department of Health failed to comment last night.