Rochdale to see increase in NHS dentists

A £1.3 million plan to improve the dental service will see five new dentists coming to the Rochdale area.

The ambitious project was recently unveiled, as is an attempt to transform the dentist situation in the borough where an surgery will be opened in Brimrod with four new dentists.

Bosses from NHS Heywood, Middleton, hope that these moves will help to reduce waiting lists, which are constantly rising, as well as giving a greater number of patients access to NHS services.

The moves should be completed by the end of the year, and the added dentists will be able to provide NHS treatment to 17,000 more patients.

The opening times and exact locations have not yet been revealed. Over the next few months, patients will be given information on how to sign up to the new services. All places are to be given out on a first-come first-served basis.

The primary care dental lead of the Trust, Carole Williams, stated that they have been working hard to bring more dental services to those living in the area. It is an added bonus that the work will be completed by the end of the year.

Williams also adds that access to NHS dentists has slowly been improving, but these new services will dramatically increase the number of new patients who can be treated – a huge boost to local services.

The Observer recently published results in March stating that 562 children needed to have decaying teeth removed – where the town had the second-worst figures in the whole of greater Manchester.

After the results of this report, bosses of the Trust realised the dental service of Rochdale was ‘poor’.