First New Dental School Since 2005
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- Published: Wednesday, 11 December 2024 10:31
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Many MP‘s have been asking for a dental school in their area believing that it is the solution to local access problems. One lucky group now appear to have been granted their wish, with a project receiving £1.5 million funding, and set to proceed.
Advocates for new dental schools claim multiple benefits. Patients can be seen as part of the training programme, and it bolsters the local economy. It adds prestige and jobs to the associated University and the area. The belief, or perhaps hope, that students tend to stay where they train is another part of the appeal.
Bangor and Norwich have been heavily promoted as sites for new dental schools, and there has now been further significant progress on the Norwich project, where the University of East Anglia (UEA) hopes to open a facility.
Shortly after the election a cross party group of five Norfolk MPs met Care Minister Stephen Kinnock to promote the project. In September 2024, Norwich South MP Clive Lewis was telling constituents that the UEA project was not yet a done deal, but things have now progressed. The project can move to its next stage following the allocation of £1.5 million to support the delivery of a new School of Oral health at UEA.
The money comes from the Greater Norwich Growth Board. Since 2014 the board’s activities have leveraged an additional £296m of match funding to deliver infrastructure projects across the Greater Norwich area. This latest funding will be used to construct an extension to the Edith Cavell Building on the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Campus. A ground floor extension is already underway there, which will be UEA’s new Anatomy Suite. The new funding will enable a first-floor extension, which will be home to the School of Oral Health.
The space will be equipped with dental chairs, clinical grade fittings and other specialist teaching infrastructure such as phantom heads, teaching laboratory and seminar rooms.
When completed the school will provide capacity for 40 undergraduate students each year. If undergraduate training starts in September 2026, the first cohort of dental students would qualify as dentists in June 2031, but they will be able to start delivering basic treatment with a few years.
UEA will be drawing on their significant experience of managing a successful medical school to retain graduates in the area. Currently, one third of UEA Medical School graduates are working long term in the region post qualification. Planning for the future growth of the School of Oral Health is already underway with the majority of costs for the further expansion being covered by revenue received by UEA through course income. Future works would enable an expansion of facilities both within and beyond the Edith Cavell Building, to accommodate a larger number of students, increasing from 40 to 65 students per year.
Prof David Maguire, Vice Chancellor of the University of East Anglia, said: "This is great news and we thank the Greater Norwich Growth Board for its unanimous support. Providing dental training here in Norwich will be a positive move towards helping local people get the care they need. This is an important step in our bid to deliver undergraduate dental training at UEA, building on the success of the Norwich Medical School."
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