Only one surgery in operation and little hopes of start-up before the autumn
£700,000 Buckie unit is hit by shortfall of dentists
Published:
A dental unit in Moray has opened to the public with only one of its surgeries in operation.
A shortage of dentists means that the £700,000 two-surgery unit in the north-west corner of Buckie’s Seafield Hospital is currently only accommodating a community dentist who provides dental care to children and people with special needs.
The other surgery was intended for NHS access ~and emergency dentistry, but no one has yet been found to take up the position.
NHS Grampian is currently trying to draft in dentists from other parts of NHS Grampian to provide temporary cover for four to five days a week at the Buckie unit, but have indicated that someone is not expected to be in place until the end of the summer.
Yesterday, a local GP, who did not wish to be named, hit out at the NHS for not having a dentist in place, and said that many people were not receiving dental treatment at all due to the lack of NHS services.
He said: “The community dentist has just transferred from his mobile unit into the surgery, but that won’t address the waiting list.
“What I want to know is whether they have anyone or not for this surgery.
“There have been raised expectations and there should be an NHS service in that area. There’s a big concern over the lack of them.
“People can’t afford private dental care, and many are just having none at all.”
Yesterday, a spokesman for NHS Grampian confirmed that a permanent NHS dentist had yet to be appointed.
He said: “We will have two surgeries. One will be used by the community dental service. The second surgery will be staffed by salaried permanent NHS service dentists.
“What we are working on at the moment is trying to identify dentists from elsewhere within NHS Grampian who would provide a service at the surgery as a short-term solution until we find a permanent, salaried NHS dentist.
“These dentists will work exclusively for NHS Grampian and will obviously take patients from the waiting list. It’s never easy to recruit dentists. We will continue to advertise to bring someone in on a permanent basis.”
