PCT wins funds to finance dental initiative (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

PCT wins funds to finance dental initiative

THE chronic lack of NHS dental services in the Cotswolds could be eased thanks to a cash injection to fund a pilot project.

Cotswold and Vale Primary Care Trust, which oversees dental provision in the region, has won £130,000 to finance the new initiative.

It has secured an initial round of funding to set up the pilot, which seeks to establish whether there is a better way of providing NHS dental care so that more people have access to quality low cost dentistry.

It is one of 50 pilots selected from hundreds of applications nationwide to win the funding provided by the NHS Modernisation Agency and Dental Services Fund.

The scheme will result in a single dental practice in the county which will employ a dentist, together with equipment, support, nursing and managerial staff, dedicated solely to providing NHS treatment.

It will enable the collection of accurate data and real experience of whether it is a viable system of providing more readily available and high quality NHS dentistry nationwide.

Chris Morton, the trust's assistant director of primary care said: "Providing dentists with the security of a known salary will remove the pressure to maintain income levels through patient volume and we hope this will have a beneficial effect on the quality of preventative care for all NHS patients. "This trial is to see if this is a good way of working."

He added: "We hope it is a small step in the right direction for improving availability of NHS dental services in the county and will contribute to national changes planned for the future."

The selection of the trust followed lengthy consultation between dental practices and a representative from the Community Health Council who came up with the bid.

Currently, the 36 practices within the trust's area provide some degree of NHS service to existing patients, though only one is accepting new NHS patients.