More than 20 MPs from the South West have jointly called for an increase in the number of undergraduate dental students at the University of Plymouth from the current 58 to 72, an increase of about 25%. This move is aimed at alleviating the shortage of dental talent in the region and helping to achieve the government’s goal of improving dental appointment services.
The Peninsula Dental School has been rated as the top dental school in the UK by the Guardian University Guide for two consecutive years and currently enrolls 58 new dental students each year.
The expansion campaign, initiated by Plymouth MPs Luke Pollard, Rebecca Smith and Fred Thomas and supported by the cross-party dental working group of Plymouth City Council, has been jointly supported by all 22 Liberal Democrat MPs in the South West.
They jointly wrote to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, emphasizing that without increasing the training of dental talents, it will be difficult for the South West to achieve the goal of increasing dental appointments.
Professor Ewen McColl, Dean of the Peninsula Dental School, said that he was grateful for the support of the MPs, which would not only help expand dental enrollment, but also enable the school to keep up with other dental schools in the UK.
The expansion requires additional resources from the government to meet the strategic priorities of the NHS – focusing on community care, preventing dental diseases and using advanced technology to improve patient care, especially in remote rural and coastal areas.
As the leading medical education institution in the South West, Plymouth University’s dental students are trained in a simulated dental learning environment equipped with nearly 100 high-end dental simulators, and can provide more than 35,000 dental appointments per year to more than 6,500 patients in four clinics operated by Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise in Devon and Cornwall. A fifth clinic is also about to open in Plymouth city center.
Graduates of the university’s dental and related health professions are spread across the South West, providing high-quality dental care to thousands of patients every week. The implementation of the expansion plan will further strengthen the regional dental service capacity and ease the pressure on existing medical resources.
